Not My Problem
by Neale
Summary: AU as usual. Had the urge to try a 'Magical Britain can fix it's own problems, I'm leaving' story. Harry is his mother's son and brilliant in this one. HP/HG/LL and NL/SB/MJ core links and AD/VD/MD and Weasley bashing galore.
1. Lily's Son

**OK, this will be the next story after 3&7, because I had the urge to write a 'tell Magical Britain to deal with their own problems and head off to somewhere like Oz, the States etc' story. The next chapter of 3&7 is about half done but I couldn't get this idea out of my head until I laid down a few chapters.**

**Harry is a precocious genius like his mother was and remembers everything back to his birth perfectly. He has used Petunia's fears of being seen as anything but perfectly normal to wrangle better treatment and decent amounts of food out of the Dursleys so he's not the frail little waif in rags Dumbledore expects him to be. Both he and Hermione have also used their brilliance to leave ordinary students way behind them, so they're about six years ahead of anyone else their age at school. Auntie Minnie's conscience has made her deliver Harry's letter to him herself and be a little more honest with the Grangers because she felt guilty about failing Lily and saw her in Hermione. For all that she is shocked to find that Harry and Hermione already know each other as they went to the same school for three years.**

**Petunia and Dudley aren't as bad in this story, but Vernon and Marge are. Dumbledork, Snape and most of the Weasleys are still bottom feeders.**

**And yes, the basic structure of the culture, familiars and the like of this world will be the same as my other HP stories, because that's what works in my mind, so some will no doubt complain that this is just rehashing them.**

**Usual disclaimers, no rights to anything from JKR's stories.**

While she wasn't a patch on her younger half sister, Petunia Dursley had been bright enough to quickly recognise that her nephew was just as much of a precocious genius as Lily had been, that was why she grudgingly accept the validity of the veiled threats in his barbs about the neighbours asking why he was called Freak and looked so different from the rest of the family even before he started school.

Unfortunately she hadn't managed to do much more than stop Vernon and their Dudley leaving marks when they hit the boy and calling him Freak in front of anyone else though, and it had been a major fight to get Vernon and Dudley to accept that they had to give him Dudley's second bedroom when the boys started school because they couldn't afford to have anyone else find out that the boy lived in the cupboard under the stairs.

Food and the basics were under her control though so Petunia made sure that Harry had enough simple food to keep him healthy and stop him looking as though he was starved, and bought him the cheapest shoes and clothes she could for school, but she was cutting down Dudley's old clothes for the boy's other clothes until he was big enough to do that himself to avoid too many fights about how much they were spending on him.

Harry would never admit in front of Uncle Vernon, but he'd been learning yoga and meditation techniques from the Indian family down the street since he was four. This helped him control his temper and made it easier to learn other things. This in turn helped get his outbursts of wild magic that came when he was angry or afraid under control, so the old man with the long hair and whiskers who'd left him here hadn't come around to bind his magic and wipe out all their memories of what happened since before he started school.

By necessity, Harry had created an exercise regime based on running away from, dodging and fighting off his cousin and other bullies after he started school and was spending more time away from Privet Drive. Combined with getting enough food, this worked surprisingly well to build him up and keep him healthy.

Of course there was an ugly scene when Harry started school and turned out to be by far the brightest pupil there because Vernon, the idiot, beat him and tried to force him to admit that he'd cheated to do better than Dudley. It took a reminder of what happened to grown ups who abused children and that Harry obviously took after his mother, _the genius_, to make Vernon back down. Harry advanced through his lessons so fast that Vernon had to give up on his decision to force him to give Dudley his homework because they were learning different things within a few weeks, and totally different subjects after Harry moved up to Primary School when they started back after Christmas. Harry was still made to help Dudley with his homework, but Petunia insisted that Dudley do most of the work himself because he wouldn't learn anything if Harry did everything for him and she wasn't going to have her son grow up an uneducated fool, even if that _was_ the way they did things at Smeltings.

Vernon didn't really have any grounds to argue about Harry starting his secondary education when he was eight, because the selective school that offered him a place was covering all the young prodigy's fees. The biggest costs to them were his bus fares to and from school every day, but they'd had to reorganise his chores to work around his longer school hours due to the hour or two he spent on buses each day. Harry used that time on the buses for meditation and study. The selective school was where he met his best friend Hermione Jean Granger, normally known as Jean. Jean was another prodigy who'd breezed through her Eleven-Plus at seven, but she was a year ahead of him because she was ten months older. He and Jean bonded with one another when they met, much like he had with Luna when they were babies, because not only were they both child prodigies, they also shared other abilities that no-one else had.

They didn't really understand what these abilities were until Jean and her parents were visited by a Professor McGonagall on her eleventh birthday to offer her a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but that's when it was explained that they were magical! Harry had always been told by Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia that magic didn't exist, but he never really believe them, and now he had proof that they'd been lying. Jean's parents were fairly well off and they bought every reference book they could find on magic and the magical world in their shops, so he and Jean had been learning everything in those books for the last ten months.

Harry had taken his GCSEs at ten, and Dudley didn't like it when the results of the Eleven-Plus he did at eleven were compared to what Harry got at _seven_ and found wanting. Harry was tempted to add a dig about the fact that his best friend had aced her _A-Levels_ at eleven, but he realised that that would just prompt beatings from Dudley and Uncle Vernon so he kept quiet.

* * *

Petunia was just relieved that Vernon and Dudley were out at a cricket match on the boy's eleventh birthday when that Professor McGonagall delivered the boy's invitation to attend the magic school Lily had gone to….. and she didn't hesitate to agree when the old battleaxe suggested that she take the boy to get everything he needed to go to the magic school. She knew that Vernon didn't want him going there, but the tension at home had been getting worse and worse since Harry started at that selective school three years ago and it peaked when he showed up Dudley by breezing through his GCSEs at ten when Dudley just scraped through on his Eleven-Plus, so having him away in Scotland for nine or ten months a year would hopefully calm Vernon down enough for them to get through the other two or three months without too many problems.

Harry recognised the lady who took him to get his things for the magic school from the night he'd been dumped on the Dursleys' doorstep and he could see that she was nervous, it was as if she was worried about being caught doing something she shouldn't aught to actually…. She also kept looking at him as if she thought something was wrong and was worried about that. As soon as he had changed into better clothes and was ready to go out, she walked him over to Missus Figg's in the next street.

Their destination was no great surprise for Harry really, as he'd observed some of Missus Figg's unusual 'cats' watching him with far more intelligence than cats should have and had _seen_ that she was sort of like him, so he knew that she had something to do with magic. Professor McGonagall explained along the way that they would be using something called a 'Flue' to get from Missus Figg's to the magical shops. She also explained that Missus Figg was what they called a 'Squib'….. someone from a magical family who didn't have magic….. but they'd registered her house as the home of a magic user to cover up any magic occurring around him….

Harry looked at her as he debated whether he could trust her, then leant in and whispered that Missus Figg _did_ have magic, it was just that someone had done something to stop her using it, like they had to him. Minerva McGonagall stared at him for a minute, thinking about his mother's brilliance and his father's prodigious abilities that were at least in part from being descended from one of, if not _the_, most powerful magical families in Britain and nodded. If anyone could _see_ that someone's magic was bound, the son of James and Lily Potter would most likely be the one. When they reached Missus Figg's and she was fussing over Harry, Minerva cast some discreet scans over her that confirmed what Harry had told her, Arabella Figg was no Squib. She wasn't a strong witch by any means but she was definitely a witch, however someone had bound her magic to convince everyone that she _was_ a Squib….. And the memories that had come back to Minerva to make her take Harry's Hogwarts letter to him herself when she saw his name and address on the letter made her fairly certain who that was, Albus Bloody Dumbledore!

That brought to mind another young witch who hadn't seemed quite right when she visited her ten months ago, and the daughter of Lily's best friend who was struggling because she'd lost her mother eighteen months ago, so she left young Harry with Arabella while she apparated off to collect the girls. She had been more honest with Hermione Granger's parents than she was supposed to about their world when she visited them last year because the precocious little witch had reminded her so much of Lily Evans, so it didn't take much to convince them that it would be a good idea to let one of young Hermione's professors show her the best things to get for school. She hadn't been entirely honest with them when she told them that school funds were allocated to get the Muggleborn students what they needed to start at Hogwarts, but she would take the money for that from her own vaults if necessary. She also collected Luna Lovegood before she returned to Arabella's house, she'd had no trouble getting Xeno to agree for her to take Luna out for the day because he had been off with the Pixies most of the time since they lost Pandora.

The spark she saw between Harry, Hermione and Luna when the girls arrived, and even more so Harry telling her that Hermione was his best friend and Luna had been a special friend since they were babies confirmed that she'd done the right thing, so once she got over the shock she cast a compulsion on Arabella not to say anything to anyone about their visit and glamours over herself and the children before making sure that everyone was holding hands and flooing to the Leaky Cauldron. When they arrived, she quickly led the children out the back to the portal into Diagon Alley and took them straight to Gringotts, where she used her blood to identify herself and asked to see her account manager, Snorri. What most of Magical Britain didn't know was that the Druid Houses were all handled by senior account managers who were affiliated with the Gringott family as the Druid Houses maintained close ties to the Goblin Nations. That was why Snorri's eyes widened and he called for someone else as soon as he saw Harry.

* * *

When Over Chieftain Gringott the Seventh, Leader of the Goblin Nations, Director of the Gringotts Bank and the World's most powerful goblin arrived and _looked_ into Harry, seeing what had been done to him, his rage was a terrible thing. He then _looked_ into Minerva McGonagall and the other children who were with them and saw that they'd been interfered with as well, so he brusquely ordered all of them to be taken to the time chamber to be seen to by their best healers, curse breakers, mind magic sages and teachers. The goblins knew what he meant by that so Minerva and the three children were hustled out of the room as Gringott barked orders at Snorri.

_The_ time chamber was something that was very rarely used because the power needed to activate the runes for the chamber was colossal, far more than what it took to power all of Gringotts London's wards, but time was compressed so much inside the chamber that a day inside the chamber was only a minute outside, and this gave the Goblin Nations a chance to get ahead of potentially world changing events. More than a few of the goblins and humans who were racing about making preparations for this were wondering what monumental event had arisen to call for the chamber to be activated and trying to make sense of what was going into the chamber, all the more so when the human female and children were led in and Over Chieftain Gringott himself joined them in the chamber before it was activated, but of course they received no explanations at their level.

The first order of business inside the chamber was the removal of the abomination that Harry had been carrying since the night that his parents were killed by that strange looking man, along with all of the bindings and compulsions that had been put on the four of them. Then the healers dealt with their other health issues while the Leader of the Goblin Nations gave Harry, Hermione and Luna mainly a history lesson of their world (though Minerva also learnt much that she hadn't know before too).

The first item of note was the fact that the Magical world was over three thousand years old and Harry's family had played a significant role in its development since its inception, because Harry wasn't entirely human, in fact none of them were. Gringott told them how the _aes sídhe _(both the Tuatha Dé Danann and Fomorians) had mixed their blood with the most magically powerful Druids of the emerging Celtic people, in an attempt to lead the rising humans in a better direction than they appeared to be going in. Of the Druids that the _aes sídhe _mingled with, the bloodlines that were to become the Potters over two thousand years later were among the strongest and most progressive, and they helped lead the Celtic people to greater heights than they would have achieved otherwise. This was why the Potters were one of the most powerful families, both magically and politically, in the Magical world.

At this point Gringott had the three children do inheritance tests to determine what they needed to be taught to best prepare them for what was in front of them, and even he was surprised by what the inheritance tests revealed. Gringott had known that Harry was heir to the Potter, Peverell and Gryffindor families (along with Le Fey through the Potter line and Emrys through the Gryffindor line), with all the rights and responsibilities that that entailed, but Lily Evans had never been tested, and through her he was also the true heir of Salazar Slytherin. Gringott had always known that Tom Riddle, AKA _Lord_ Voldemort and the Dark Lord, was not the Heir of Slytherin as he claimed, as he was in fact descended from one of Salazar Slytherin's younger non-magical sisters, but without anyone from the right bloodline to test they had not managed to identify who the _true_ heir was until now. This made Harry, as Head of two Most Noble and Most Ancient and two Senior Noble and Most Ancient Druid Houses, plus the Heir to a _third_ Most Noble and Most Ancient Druid House, the most powerful political figure in Magical Britain.

But that wasn't the only surprise, as Hermione was revealed to be the true heir of not only the Junior Noble and Ancient Druid House of Dagworth-Granger which Gringott had suspected from her name, but the Senior Noble and Most Ancient Druid House of Hufflepuff. Once again, Gringott had expected Luna to be Heir to the Junior Noble and Ancient Druid House of Lovegood and Most Ancient Druid House of Cathbad, but she was also Heir to the Senior Noble and Most Ancient Druid House of Ravenclaw. That meant that between them they had two (nearly three) Most Noble and Most Ancient, four Senior Noble and Most Ancient, two Junior Noble and Ancient Houses and one Most Ancient Druid House, and all four of the Hogwarts Founders were included in that. With the spark that most in the chamber could see between them, it was obvious that these children were going to become a major force in their world.

* * *

When they came out of the time chamber nearly five hours later, Harry, Hermione and Luna were physically nearly a year older and in their natural states they were markedly different from the way they were when they went in, because they'd been training hard under goblin growth potions for over nine months, as well as learning everything they could about the history, culture and magic of their world. Minerva had also been learning more Wizarding and Goblin magic so that she would be able to better protect herself and the children against Dumbledore and others, not to mention learning how to call and use the magical Myddril heirloom weapons of the House of Ross.

Another change for Harry was the fact that in his natural state he no longer looked like a younger version of his father with green eyes. That had been what Minerva had been concerned about when she first saw him, because she knew that his natural look was far closer to his mother's, dark auburn hair with copper highlights, his mother's features and green eyes. She'd also known that he'd acquired the Blacks' metamophmagus capabilities through his paternal grandmother Dorea, but he'd been locked into mirroring his father's appearance except for his mother's eyes.

They didn't trust the influence Dumbledore had over Garrick Ollivander, but unfortunately they had to play along for now so Harry used what he was taught in the chamber to replicate the effects of the spell Dumbledore had cast over him to mask his true magical signature when they went to Ollivander's to get their wands. Ollivander could _see_ a witch or wizard's magic and this was what he used to match them to his wands, but Dumbledore had also interfered with him so that he accepted the false magical signature that the spell conjured. That was why Harry was matched to the holly and phoenix feather wand that Dumbledore had intended him to be. It wasn't a proper match for him but it worked well enough due to the Slytherin and Peverell blood that Harry shared with Tom Riddle….. in fact it probably worked better than Dumbledore would have wanted because the meddling old bastard didn't know about Harry's Slytherin (or Peverell hopefully) bloodlines.

They had discussed the fact that Dumbledore was obviously setting up Harry to become some sort of sacrificial goat to Riddle, or rather _Lord_ Voldemort as he called himself. There was no way that Dumbledore could have missed the foul emanations of Riddle's soul fragment which had been left on Harry as a soul anchor when Riddle tried to kill him, and from the enquiries he had been making over the last ten years, he obviously knew what soul anchors were.

Therefore his plan appeared to be to engineer a situation where Riddle managed to kill Harry and the soul anchor attached to him so that once the rest of the soul anchors had been destroyed _he_ could swoop in and vanquish another so-called Dark Lord to cement his place as the 'Leader of the Light' as he loved to call himself. Obviously these plans would be jeopardised if Harry were to somehow become strong enough to defeat Riddle himself, so he'd bound Harry's magic and set it up so that Harry would be matched to a wand that would not only be ineffectual against Riddle's wand due the feather it had as a wand core being from the same phoenix as Riddle's, it would also be a bad match for Harry's magic so that it wouldn't work properly for him. This would have the added benefit (for Dumbledore) of hampering Harry's ability to learn anything that could help him against Riddle.

They used a variation of the spell to prevent Ollivander recognising that Hermione and Luna were the current Lady Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, which of course meant that while the vine and dragon heartstring and apple and unicorn hair wands they were matched to were closer for them than the holly and phoenix feather wand was for Harry they still weren't perfect matches. For any powerful casting they would be using their heirloom weapons that had core materials which channelled the family magic when they were bonded to the Heads of their houses though, so the less than perfect wand matches weren't of any great importance. Harry and Luna were also carrying their mothers' wands, which were better matches for them.

* * *

Amelia Bones, Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, had been asked to cone to Gringotts with all possible secrecy and haste when Harry and the others came out of the Time Chamber, and the request to bring her ward, Susan Bones, Heir to the House of Bones, to determine whether she had been tampered with as well ensured that she did so. She was relieved when Susan was proven clear of bindings and compulsions, but furious when she discovered that _she_ wasn't, and nor had Harry Potter, Minerva McGonagall, Luna Lovegood and the supposed Muggleborn girl Hermione Granger been. Her fury increased when Gringott shared the documents that Lily Potter had left with him, along with the Potters' wills that Albus Dumbledore had used his power of the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot to have sealed the day after the Potters were killed, the same day he'd had himself proclaimed Harry Potter's Magical Guardian in the Wizengamot, and Harry shared memories of events of his life up until now.

Amelia immediately initiated an investigation into the incarceration of the now Duke Black, because Gringotts' records showed that he could never have been found guilty of the crimes he was accused of and Harry's memories showed that the main so-called evidence against him was false, and sent trusted people to retrieve him from Azkaban to prevent any 'accidents' happening to him before he could be properly tried. She instructed the Aurors she sent to Azkaban to remove any trace of their visit from the minds of the warden and guards there to prevent word getting out.

She also arranged to be taking Susan in to get her wand at the same time Minerva was there with Harry Potter and the other two girls, so that she could observe what was happening and counteract the compulsion to tell Dumbledore what wand Harry Potter was matched to.

Aside from the mandatory text books that they had to get, the rest of the children's school supplies were of far greater quality than what other students were getting. Their trunks _appeared_ to be much the same as other students' trunks, but if you could get inside (which only they and those they trusted could of course), they had more space and facilities than many of the great families' homes. They were also active runic time chambers that worked on a eleven to one ratio, so they could get eleven hours' worth of training or study (or rest) for every hour that passed on the outside.

Harry, Hermione and Luna's 'pets' were also something that few people had ever seen, as they were Potter familiars. Harry's was the Head of the Potter Family's Bennu familiar, in this incarnation her name was Hedwig and her 'public' image was that of a Snowy Owl (a _male_ Snowy Owl for some reason). The Potter familiars recognised the bonds between Harry, Hermione and Luna, so Hermione's and Luna's official 'pets' were Mngwas. Hermione's was a tom who answered to Crookshanks and Luna's was a female who answered to Bastet… Another female, Mafdet, was also bonded to Harry (all Potters and their mates had Mngwa protectors), but Mafdet had agreed to stay with Susan to protect her. Crookshanks and Bastet were quite capable of protecting Hermione and Luna, and while Hedwig could do so for Harry, Efa and Emyr were High Elf Potter retainers who had bonded to Harry at his birth and now that they had had reconnected to him when the masking was removed from his magical signature, nothing could keep them from him, they would be shadowing Harry as he went about his normal life at the Dursleys.

* * *

When they left Diagon alley, Harry was using his metamorphmagus ability to change his appearance back to what it had been before and Hermione was wearing a goblin glamour so that she looked like she had before too, Luna didn't bother with that as her father was unlikely to notice. Upon their return to Arabella Figg's house, they removed any memory of their visit and ensured that she would continue reporting the same things about Harry to Dumbledore as she'd been doing. When Minerva escorted Harry back to the Dursleys', she explained that Harry was going to a boarding school in Scotland that had already been paid for so he would be away for over nine months of the year.

She also told Petunia and Vernon that if they did not pay what they owed on the low interest loan they had from Lily ASAP, the family solicitors who were handling her estate would be repossessing their house before the end of the year. When the walrus started blustering and shouting that they couldn't do that, she just gave him an evil smile.

"Oh I can assure you that they can and _will _Mister Dursley! You see the Potter family solicitors were actually friends of James and Lily's and that money was meant to ensure that their son would be properly looked after in the event that anything ever happened to them. I can tell you I was as angry as they were when I took Harry to their offices to sort out his legal matters and they told us that the payments had been stopped soon after Harry's parents were killed. You are now nearly ten years behind on your payments and the interest has been compounding all this time, so you have quite a bit more to pay than you would have if you'd honoured your commitments. Did you _really_ believe that you could just stop paying because your sister in law and her husband had been killed? If so I shudder to think what you do in your normal business dealings…. Come to think of it, Harry now owns the majority holding Lily had in Gunnings Drills where you work Mister Dursley…. so perhaps his solicitors should also be calling for the company's books to be audited."

"Pay young Harry what you him owe Mister Dursley! From what he has shown us, you have gotten more than enough work out of him ever since he was a tiny tot to cover what little your family has spent on him in the last ten years… and in case you are unaware, there are actually laws against child labour so his solicitors are considering going to the authorities about that as well as the rest of this. Perhaps you will be able to recover some of the money you've been giving to your sister instead of making the payments on what you owe… Your wife and son may have to live with _her_ after you are sent to prison, seeing as you paid her bills with the money you stole from young Harry. You should just think yourselves lucky that your nephew has Lily's good heart and has insisted that you be given a chance to come good on what you owe him before his solicitors come after you, because that is the only thing that is holding them back at the moment… And while you're at it, ask yourselves how Lily would have treated _your_ son if anything had happened to the two of you and she was asked to care for him, I for one am quite certain that she would have loved him like her own."

With that, she called upstairs to tell Harry that she was looking forward to seeing him at the beginning of September and left after he came out of his room (the smallest bedroom of course) to thank her for helping him and say goodbye. As soon as she'd left, Vernon went to huff his way up the stairs (he was probably storming up the stairs in his mind but he had a hard time fighting gravity with all the weight he was carrying) to take this out on the freak, but Petunia snarled at him, taking the strongest stance she'd ever taken with him.

"What do you think you are doing you fool? You heard what she said, do you really think she would have left him here without some way of getting help if anyone tried to attack him? If you shout or raise a hand at him you won't have to worry about his solicitors, you will be _dead_! You won't need to worry about, you'll be dead, but Dudley and I will lose _everything_! They'll probably take your sister's cottage as well, because they obviously know that it's been paid for with the money you were supposed to be using to repay the loan from Lily…. Go ahead Vernon, just know that you will be destroying us all with another one of your childish temper tantrums!"

Vernon just stood there, frozen with one foot in the air while he stared at her in shock, because she'd _never_ said anything like that to him in the entire time he'd known her. He still hadn't moved when she stormed back into the living room to angrily turn off the television and tell her son a few home truths, cutting off his whine when she turned off the television.

"Quiet Dudley! What Mummy has to tell you is very important, so pay attention. We are in serious trouble I'm afraid Dudders because your father has been stealing from your cousin Harry for the last ten years, stealing a _lot_ of money! So I need you to be nice to Harry from now on, and tell me if your father or anyone else tries to do anything to him too. We will also have to do without a lot of the things we've had because we have to somehow find the money to pay Harry back what we owe him before the law comes after us….."

At that point Vernon huffed into the room, his tiny mind having reset itself to 'I'm the man of the house and you can't talk to me like that!' mode, but Petunia rounded on him as he entered the living room. "Shut your mouth and listen well Vernon Dursley! I know that you wouldn't have given that sister of your's _all_ of that money you were supposed to be paying off the loan from Lily, so go and get whatever you have left and pay that off the loan straight away, that will hopefully give us some breathing room. Get every shilling you can here and now back from her and pay that off the loan as well…. then tell that cow that she will be paying back _everything_ you've given her, _with _interest! I will _not_ lose my house because you two decided to live the high life on other people's money! I should have realised that there was no way that selling drills could have earned enough for us to live like that... While I'm at it, your sister will not be setting foot in this house again until she has paid _everything_ back, and even then she will keep her mouth shut and leave that dog of her's at home or else! She has abused my nephew even more than _you_ have and we cannot afford to let anything happen that might cause him to set his solicitors loose on us."

He stood there with his face purpling and his mouth opening and closing like some sort of gigantic humanoid puffer fish until she snapped. "Well? What are you doing, standing there like that? Get moving and start fixing what you've done you fool!"

Petunia knew that her nephew would have heard every word she said, but she wanted him to. Hopefully if he knew she was taking steps to try and rectify what had been done by Vernon he'd hold off on bringing the destruction down on their heads that he was quite capable of and had every right to…. She couldn't believe that that fool had actually been stupid enough to do all of this when he _knew_ that the boy held a majority share of the company he worked for _and_ owned most of their house until they paid it off! He had been right there and signed the paperwork with her when Lily bought her stake in Gunnings off her and then loaned them the rest of the money they needed to buy their house, which was quite a bit because he _had_ to have what he decided was the best house in the estate.

She wished that she could afford to get rid of the fool but there was no way she could scrape up the money to pay off the original loan plus ten years' extra interest by herself, and after they'd treated him the way they had they couldn't expect any more mercy from young Harry. She also wished that she'd had the sense to listen to her little sister instead of screeching at her like a fishwife when she tried to warn her that Vernon Dursley wasn't the catch she saw him as.

* * *

Vernon stomped out of the house but she was under no illusion that he'd be going to do what he was told to. He was probably going out to get drunk or go see some whore he had on the side, or more likely whinge to that fat cow of a sister of his. What that Professor had said just before she left had left Petunia thoroughly ashamed of herself because she knew that she was absolutely correct, Lily would _never_ have mistreated Dudley if he was left in her care, she would have loved and nurtured him as if he were her own child. That thought made her look at her own son and admit that she'd been letting her husband ruin him as well, because he was growing up fat, lazy, self centred and overindulged like his father. "Why don't you go to the park and play for a while Dudley? Mummy has to try and work out how to get us out of the trouble your father has gotten us into and a bit of fresh air and exercise will be good for you."

That was when Dudley discovered how much things had changed, because when he whined. "I don't want to! I want to stay here and watch my show! It's all the Freak's fault! Get rid of him so that everything will be alright again!" His Mummy slapped him! Hard!

"Don't _ever_ call your cousin that again! _N__one_ of this is Harry's fault! We're in this mess because _y__our father_ is a thief, and a liar and a fool! He was supposed to be paying back the money we borrowed from your Aunt Lily to get this house but he has been keeping it for himself because he thought that no-one would notice. _I_ should have noticed but to my shame I was just happy to let him deal with all the money matters. Well now he's been caught and we have to fix it in a hurry or else your father will be sent to prison and we won't have anywhere to live, and the only reason that we have even been given a chance to fix it is because _Harry_ insisted on it! Our lives have been changed whether you like it or not Dudley and it's all _your father's_ fault! Go and think about that, and the fact that your father would already be on his way to prison by now if Harry hadn't done what he did. Just do as I ask this once please Dudders, Mummy has a lot to think about if we're to find a way out of this mess your father has landed us in."

Dudley stomped out, much as his father had, but Petunia took some hope from the worried and confused expression on his face. She could only pray that he would actually think about what she'd told him. Once he'd left she poured herself a sherry and sat down to think.

* * *

As she was thinking, she remembered something from when Harry was left on their doorstep nearly ten years ago and she went up to the master bedroom to retrieve the box that she'd kept hidden away at the back of a shelf in her wardrobe, the box that had been tucked into the blankets he was wrapped in. When she retrieved the box, she went and knocked on Harry's door.

Petunia was surprised when he opened the door a few minutes later, because there was a beautiful white owl sitting on a perch near the window, which brought back memories of owls delivering letters from Lily when she was at school. She waved to the owl. "Does she..." As she somehow knew that the owl was a she. "deliver letters? I remember how your mother used to send letters home from school with owls."

Harry nodded cautiously. "Yes Aunt Petunia, Hedwig is a mail owl..."

She smiled. "She's beautiful."

Harry's nod was more confident this time as he smiled back. "She is, isn't she? Is there something I can do for you Aunt Petunia?"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry Harry, I don't know where my head is at the moment, Professor McGonagall told us some very upsetting things before she left…. Well I expect that you know what she told us from all the shouting after…. I know that you will have a hard time believing this and it doesn't in any way excuse the way that I've treated you, but I swear that I didn't know that Vernon wasn't making the payments on the loan your mother gave us to buy the house here. I should have paid more attention but I just let him handle all the money matters because I thought he was good with money. I don't know how yet but I promise that we _will_ pay back everything we owe you Harry, but what I came about was this..." She held the box out to him and he took it.

"It was tucked into the blankets you were wrapped in when you were left here. I hid it away in the back of my wardrobe because seeing it would have set Vernon off again and I'd forgotten all about it until just now. You see no matter how hard he tried, Vernon couldn't open it or destroy it, but I found that it opened for me, I expect that has something to do with my ties to your mother. The box must be magic because it gets bigger when it's opened and it's bigger on the inside than it is outside, some of the things in there from your parents seem magical as well so I put it away to give to you when you were older, but as I said I'd forgotten all about it until today…. Please don't think that I'm trying to bribe you with this, I know that what we've… what _I've_ done to you is inexcusable, it's just that I only remembered it when I was having a think about the mess we're in."

Harry looked up from the moving pictures he could see in the opened box in his hands with tears in his eyes. "Thank you Aunt Petunia… This… This is very precious to me…. I know that we've got a lot to work out, but I'll try to get them to leave you your house."

Petunia burst into tears and gave him the first hug she'd ever given him at that. "That Professor was right Harry, you _do_ have Lily's good heart and we don't deserve your forgiveness. I'll… I'll try to do better from now on, I promise."

She hugged him again and went downstairs to get out pen and paper and start trying to work out what they could sell to pay Harry what they owed him while Harry popped back into his trunk with Hedwig and started looking through what was in the box, which had images of lilies on the lid so presumably it had been his mother's. Most of what was in the box were magical pictures of their family and trinkets, Myddril (the Druids' name for goblin silver, which was corrupted to Mithril in the version Tolkien was told) 24 hour lady's and gentleman's watches which the engravings said had belonged his parents (though the lady's watch looked just like the one Luna wore) and what must have been his mother's jewellery… That at least proved that his aunt wasn't trying to steal from him because if the jewellery was real, and he knew that the enchanted jewellery at least would be, it would be worth a fortune. She'd been able to open the box as she said because she knew what was in it, but most of the jewellery at least was still there and he was willing to bet that it all was. He found an archaic form of his birth certificate, along with his parents' passports and some other documents and letters. There were also two wands in there, and even if he hadn't recognised them, he could _feel_ when he picked them up that they were his parents'.

He remembered that Uncle Hagrid had picked up his mother's wand and took her necklace and bracelet off and collected other things and put them in a box, presumably so that he'd have some mementos of this parents. The box must have been open because he couldn't see any family resemblance between Uncle Hagrid and Mummy, after all he was well over twice her height and several times her size. He also remembered that Uncle Hagrid had tucked something into his blankets just before they got back onto Uncle Padfoot's flying motorcycle to come here.

* * *

Things were prickly around the house for the month before he left to go to school, he still helped Aunt Petunia with the cooking because he enjoyed cooking, but he ate with the family now and Uncle Vernon had learned not to say anything about that…. He actually wet himself the first time Aunt Petunia waved a carving knife in his face and told him to shut his mouth because Harry owned more of this house than he did. Uncle Vernon and Dudley hadn't been at all happy when they were told that they would be doing the rest of Harry's chores from now on, but Aunt Petunia actually seemed to be having fun frightening Uncle Vernon by randomly looking out the window and asking what the police were doing in their street.

Vernon and Dudley also complained when anything that they could make money on was sold off to make loan repayments. Vernon had tried to argue that he couldn't give up his car because he needed it for customer visits, so he was pissed off when he was forced to exchange the keys of his luxury sedan for those of one of the company's work runabouts the next day in the office.

Apparently Dudley had gotten at least some of his mother's brains though, because he gave in to the inevitable and accepted the fact that _she_ was wearing the pants in the family now a lot faster than father did, and he was quite surprised to find that he was actually enjoying some of the changes. At first he'd felt as though he was being starved when the whole family was made to eat the same type and amounts of food that Mummy and Harry ate, but he quickly found that he had a lot more energy with the change of diet and being made to go to the park and play, and he was having more fun because of that. He'd even had a bonding moment with Mummy when he admitted that he didn't really want to go to Smeltings anyway when she told him that they wouldn't be able to send him there with the money troubles they were having, because the stories Daddy told him about being at Smeltings had sounded as stupid as its silly uniform.

It took Petunia calling the police on Marge for Vernon to learn just who was in charge of the family now. Marge had been incensed when Vernon eventually passed on Petunia's message that she wouldn't be getting any more money to pay her bills, and what's more she'd have to pay back everything he'd given her over the last ten years, so she came storming around to make it clear to Petunia and that little trouble maker that everything would be going back to the way it was before they started pandering to the runt and gave him his own bedroom.

She tried to attack Petunia when she went to call the police and Harry had to stop himself doing anything obvious to her with magic because the neighbours were out in the street trying to sticky beak, but then he smiled to himself as a solution came to him and he conjured a ruddy great snake between the Barge and Aunt Petunia. The fat cow fell over and broke her arm when she was trying to scrabble back out the front door to get away from the snake and then had a heart attack when it followed her out of the house so she ended up being carted off in an ambulance.

The snake slid off into the garden and Harry sent it back to where it came from as soon as it was out of sight_, _but Dudley saw Harry and his father in a new light after that, because he'd kicked his father's shins so hard that he could hardly walk for a week for letting his fat cow of a sister attack his Mummy without making any attempt to stop her, but he had no doubts about who was behind that snake suddenly appearing and going at Aunt Marge to protect his Mummy from her.

Things only got worse for Marge after that, because Petunia came to see her in hospital when she was recovering from the heart attack with Harry's solicitor, the report that was filed about her attack on Petunia in her own house (with witness statements from all the neighbours who had been avidly watching the altercation), and the paperwork to sell her cottage to repay the money she owed Harry. Ted Tonks laughed at her when she tried to threaten that she'd sue them and the brat for blackmail. "_What_ blackmail Miss Dursley? Your sister in law is merely trying to warn you that your attacking her in her own home in front of so many witnesses has put you in a very sticky situation, while I am here on a totally separate matter from her. You see I am here because we have been advised that you have refused to return the money that was supposed to be used to pay off your brother's debts to our client but he fraudulently passed on to you. Our client has charged us with trying to conduct these proceedings with the minimum damage to everyone involved so we have come to you with an offer to arrange for the sale of your property without forcing it to go through the courts so that you would hopefully have enough left to get yourself somewhere to live after you have discharged your debt to our client. After the threats and imprecations I've heard that you have made against our client, the only child of our dearly departed friends however, I must admit that I would prefer that you choose to force us to take you to court, because I can make sure that after all the damages and court costs you're hit with, you won't be left with a pot to piss in. So by all means, _please_ refuse to sign this paperwork and force us to take you to court Miss Dursley, as that would make my day."

Petunia thought that Marge was going to have another heart attack at that, but she shakily took the pen offered and managed to sign all the forms where Ted indicated. She made one request that Ted was quite happy to take on board when he went looking for a dingy ex-council flat for Marge, that the flat would be big enough for her brother as well. By the time Marge got out of hospital, Ted and the goblins had sold the cottage and most of what she owned, and moved the rest into the two bedroom ex-council flat they got for her.

* * *

Vernon had been very generous with the money he gave Marge (as it wasn't his money he was giving away), so between the money recovered from the sale of her cottage, Vernon's car and other things, what they garnisheed from Vernon's pension plan and the money the two of them had hidden away, most of the loan Lily had made them had been repaid. This made what Petunia was wishing she could do on the day that Minerva delivered Harry's Hogwarts letter a viable option, so with the goblins' help Ted fast tracked her divorce from Vernon, garnisheeing a good whack of his salary for the remaining loan repayments as well as alimony and child support to Petunia. When Vernon moved in with his sister they arranged for a cheap, practical and reliable little Mini Clubman Estate for Petunia and the boys to get around in, and they found a nice little three bedroom cottage that would be easier to maintain with their reduced finances closer to the school Dudley was going to and quietly sold off the house so that Petunia and Dudley would have some money behind them.

In the mean time, they had made sure that the story they put together to explain how Harry got everything organised for Hogwarts would stand up. Petunia remembering about the mail owls gave them the core idea and they went from there, saying that she had remembered mail owls delivering letters from Lily and asked the owl to wait so she could send a reply, and she'd also remembered how to get to Diagon Alley so she'd taken Harry to get the basics he needed for Hogwarts, changing money at Gringotts to pay for what she bought. It was struggle for Minerva to stop herself from bursting out laughing at Dumbledore trying to cover up the fact that he was absolutely furious that one of the inconsequential puppets in his scheme had apparently managed to derail how he'd planned to have Hagrid introduce the boy to the magical world and make sure he knew that Albus Dumbledore was the great man who was behind everything good in their world, but there was nothing he could do about it without risking exposing far more of his plans so he had to go along with it.

Harry, Hermione, Luna and Sue used the time up until they left for Hogwarts getting in as much training as they could, but as far as anyone outside their little group knew they were just staying in their rooms most of the time reading their text books. They'd learned to use goblin apparation to get in and out of their trunks and the goblin floos inside their trunks let them go straight into the others' trunks, Gringotts or Potter Manor.

By the time Petunia had divorced Vernon and changed her and Dudley's names to Evans, they had also taken Arabella Figg into Gringotts and removed all the bindings and memory manipulations placed on her (including their own, but she understood and accepted why Minerva had needed to do that), as well as giving her the training she needed to protect her mind from Dumbledore and use magic to support herself. Over the next couple of years, Arabella quietly managed to get her OWLs, and even got her NEWTs in Herbology, Potions and Care of Magical Creatures (her best and favourite subjects at Hogwarts up until Dumbledore had bound her magic and intellect enough to make her fail out, because while she wasn't magically strong she'd been a clever little witch). After she had passed her NEWTs, she was able to supplement her income from breeding and selling kneazle crosses by making and selling potions, so she had a rewarding and comfortable life. She had no trouble convincing Dumbledore that things hadn't changed at Number 4 Privet Drive, _or_ maintaining the mental image of that in case he decided to scan her mind passively.

That had also given them the time to treat Harry's Godfather, Sirius Black, for the effects of being around the dementors in Azkaban for nearly ten years and with the resources of the Goblin Nation behind them, they worked out that Peter Pettigrew was hiding in his unregistered animagus form with a wizarding family. Pettigrew was quietly captured and Amelia slipped the item for the two trials into a Wizengamot session while Dumbledore was tied up with his last minute plans to get Harry Potter under control when he started at Hogwarts.

None of the arguments against Duke Black getting the trial that he was never given before he was illegally thrown into Azkaban and forgotten were successful, so they tried Pettigrew and then him, revoking Pettigrew's posthumous Order of Merlin First Class before he had his magic stripped from him and he was thrown through the Veil of Death. The ones trying to say that Black couldn't be innocent because he was a Death Eater who had betrayed the Potters gave them an excuse to question Pettigrew under Veritaserum and expose more than a few Death Eaters in key positions, along with the fact that their claims of having been made to take the Dark Mark under the Imperius curse were false. Some of them were questioned and tried then and there, going through the Veil of Death with Pettigrew, but unfortunately the ones who were behind the current Minister for Magic once again managed to wriggle out of getting their just deserts.

They had managed to achieve their primary aims though, to get Sirius cleared, freed and formally accepted as Duke Black and have him formally recognised as Harry's Magical Guardian to strip away the power Dumbledore had given himself over Harry. Sirius was still the man-child he'd been at Hogwarts and in the Aurors after the war, and James had grudgingly agreed that he didn't really want their son growing up being taught to be nothing but a prankster, so custody of Harry was meant to go to the Lovegoods (Pandora was Harry's Godmother), and if anything prevented them looking after him the Tonks, because Andromeda Tonks was Harry's closest blood relative in the Magical world who hadn't followed the self styled Lord Voldemort. The Tonks were still to have been involved in Harry's upbringing if he was placed with the Lovegoods, because their daughter Nymphadora was the only other known full Metamorphmagus in Magical Britain, so they would be helping him learn to deal with that ability.

* * *

The reason that Sirius was made Harry's Godfather was that he was Heir to the Most Noble and Most Ancient Druid House of Black, the only other Most Noble House in Magical Britain, which meant that he would have the power to protect Harry as no-one else could. It had been Sirius' idea to blood adopt Harry and formally make him his Heir, but after he shared his reasoning James and Lily agreed and went along with it.

While largely immature and irresponsible, Sirius was no fool and he understood and, once he was accepted as Head of the House of Black, actioned the requests to reinstate his cousin Andromeda as a favoured daughter of the House of Black, blood adopting Ted into the Black family and naming him the Head of one of the Most Ancient Druid Families that were part of the House of Black. The Baroness title that had been stripped from Andromeda's sister Bellatrix when he called for the formal dissolution of her marriage to Radolphus Lestrange and recalled everything given to them by the House of Black as part of her dowry before casting her out of the House of Black was allocated to Andromeda as part of the dowry that had been previously withheld from her. This made the Tonks Family the Junior Noble and Most Ancient Druid House of Tonks and gave them the power to protect themselves against the politics of Magical Britain. They were holding off having Harry formally put into the custody of the Tonks until they saw how the situation with the Dursleys panned out.

As with when he was made Harry's Godfather, Sirius went a step beyond what he was asked to do for Andromeda and talked her into accepting the role of Steward of the Most Noble and Most Ancient Druid House of Black and its Associated Houses, and with Harry, Hermione and Luna's wholehearted agreement, the roles of Regent for the Most Noble and Most Ancient Druid House of Potter and its Associated Houses, Regent for the Senior Noble and Most Ancient Druid House of Hufflepuff and its Associated Houses and Regent for the Senior Noble and Most Ancient Druid House of Ravenclaw and its Associated Houses. The ones who had been running roughshod over Magical Britain didn't know it yet but Andromeda Tonks had just become the most powerful witch in the country, holding enough voting power to effect every decision made in the Wizengamot and the ability to call in any and all debts to the houses that she now represented, but in some cases she held off on doing that until it would benefit them the most.


	2. Born as the Seventh Month Dies

**OK, a little background here, in this world the Druids have been the driving force of the Magical world since at least a Thousand BC, so most wizarding magic is based on the Druids. For the sake of argument, we're going to say that the Druids' Celtic calendar came into use when they began leading the magical world and it therefore underpins the Magical world. The Julian calendar may be use for day to day events but the Celtic calendar is still in use for anything traditional, the reason this is significant is the fact that the seventh month of the Celtic calendar equates to December in the Julian calendar. It was interesting to see who was 'born as the seventh month dies' if you're using the Celtic calendar.**

**Usual disclaimer, no rights to anything from JKR's stories.**

So on the First of September, Petunia drove Harry and Dudley into the city so that Harry could take the Hogwarts Express to school for the first time. Hedwig wasn't going to sit in a cage all the way to Hogwarts, so all he had with him was his trunk, which he expanded to normal trunk size as he took it out of back of the Mini. As Dumbledore expected him to look like his father with the scar, he had his father's hair and face and the scar again, but the glasses were only used for magical enhancements like Dumbledore and some others used and he was his natural size. Petunia and Dudley were doing their best to adjust to this new world, but they were still a little uncomfortable around most magical people and it would be silly to waste money paying for parking at the station for no reason, so he said goodbye to them when they dropped him off and headed in by himself (except for Efa and Emyr who were shadowing him as invisible protectors).

He could feel that Hermione was there with her parents and Crookshanks, so he headed for them. They were expecting him because Hermione had told her parents that she'd found out that Harry was magical as well when Professor McGonagall took him to Diagon Alley to get his school supplies at the same time as her, so they headed to where they had been told Platform 9 ¾ was and went inside once Hermione had said goodbye to her parents.

They were expecting Dumbledore to keep trying to play games, so they collected Luna, Sue, Bastet and Mafdet from Auntie Ami and got onto the train as quick as they could, finding an out of the way compartment towards the back of the train and casting subtle notice-me-not charms over the door and windows to make people ignore them. That worked until about two hours into the trip when the door of their compartment suddenly banged open as someone got past their notice-me-nots.

The scruffy red headed boy looked at Harry and all but shouted in a huff. "_There_ you are! Do you know how hard it was to find you? My brother Percy made me come right back through the train and try every door, even when there didn't seem to be one! He wouldn't let me stop until I found you!"

Harry looked at the girls, Hermione beside him, Luna sprawled across the two of them and Sue on the other seat, and then back at the intruder. "Well I suppose congratulations are in order then, now who are you and just why were you and your brother so determined to find me?"

The git flopped down on the seat across from them without being invited, almost on top of Crookshanks who angrily hissed at him as he darted out of the way, on the verge of changing into his full Mngwa form, which Harry was wishing he'd do to get rid of this idiot.

"I'm Ron Weasley and I had to find you because you don't know anyone, so I'm going to be your best mate!"

_Change_ _Crookshanks, Change!_ It was obvious that Crookshanks, Bastet, Mafdet, Hermione, and Luna had _h__eard_ him, because they all gave him amused looks and Crookshanks unmistakably shook his head at him regretfully, which made the girls snort. Damned rebellious familiars, he'd have to tackle this another way.

"I'm so sorry Lady Hermione, Lady Luna and Lady Susan, apparently my knowing you and our being friends is nothing but some fantasy of mine. I realise that fantasising about young ladies of your calibre like that is inappropriate, so I will quite understand if you feel the need to slap me when we actually meet."

The girls burst out laughing and hugged him for that and Hermione decided to play along. "That's alright Harry, you're not the only one having these fantasies…. I think my father may well withdraw me from Hogwarts if he hears that I've been having this vivid a fantasy about a young man at my age though, he's a bit old fashioned that way."

Luna decided to get in on the fun too, nodding. "Daddy's not strict at all, but I don't think he'd approve of me having fantasies about a boy that are so vivid that I can actually feel and smell him either…. By the way you feel and smell very nice Harry."

Sue held up her hands and shook her head with a laugh. "Don't look at me! Auntie Ami would get upset with me if she found out that I was tormenting dumb animals."

Ron Weasley was looking at them as if they were all crazy. "What are you lot bloody well going on about? You're all bloody mental!"

Hermione frowned and snapped "Language!" at him then, trying to make sure that she used small enough words, explained.

"You barged in here uninvited, acting as if Harry had some responsibility to make it easier for you to find him, even though he's never met you before and we obviously didn't want to be disturbed because we had a notice me not charm on the door…. You upset my cat and made him jump out of the way when you tried to sit on him and then proceeded to act as if Luna, Sue and I didn't exist when we're sitting right here with Harry…. and _then_ you tell Harry that you're going to be his best mate because he doesn't know anyone….. Even though Harry and I have been best friends for three years and Luna and Sue have been very close friends as well since we met them a month ago. What we were _trying_ to point out to you was that you were obviously wrong about Harry not knowing anyone because he already has three friends, _best_ friends."

Harry nodded with a smile as he hugged her. "Thank you Hermione, you've summed everything up quite nicely."

His smile disappeared as he turned to Weasley. "So what are you still doing here Weasley? What Hermione was too nice to say was that you are also quite rude and off putting. Please leave, now!"

Weasley went red in the face as he puffed himself up. "Who the bloody hell do you think you are, telling me to leave? You don't own this bloody train and I have as much bloody right to be here as you do!"

He gulped as he was caught in the cold gaze of green eyes that looked like they were were about to shoot a pair of killing curses at him, but Harry's voice when he spoke made his eyes seem warm and inviting.

"I was under the impression that you must already know who I was, seeing as by your own admission you've been barging into every compartment on the train trying to find me, whether you could see the door or not. You have been quite offensive to me, Lady Hermione, Lady Luna, Lady Susan _and_ Hermione's cat Crookshanks ever since you forced your way into our compartment and ruined what had been up until that point a happy trip for us. I didn't tell you to leave, I _asked_ you to, but I'm telling you now. _**Get. Out!**"_

"You can't bloody tell me to do you..."

"Crooks! Dinner time! Dig in!"

Crookshanks yowled as he leapt at the red headed git in cat form with every tooth and claw on display, but he didn't manage to claw him more than three or four times before he dashed out of the compartment screaming like a little girl with Crookshanks chasing him.

The Mngwa was looking quite pleased with himself as he trotted back in with his tail in the air. They closed and sealed the door and cast privacy spells over it, because they knew that they'd be getting more visits now.

* * *

Sure enough, soon after that someone started rattling and banging the door and shouting, trying to get in. They ignored it for a while because they could hardly hear it, but in the end Harry decided that he'd have to do something so he picked Crookshanks up and was scratching his head as he went to stand in front of the window in the door. He let the privacy spell fade a little so that he could see who was outside. There was an older version of the red headed git with a prefect's badge bashing on the door and trying to force it open, and someone else who was wearing what appeared to be the Head Boy's badge standing there watching him.

The Head Boy noticed the fading privacy spell and the face appear in the door glass first, but he couldn't stand Weasley so he just smiled and waited to see how long it would take the ponce to catch on. He snorted as he realised that the cat the young boy was holding and giving a scratch to must be this Tiger or Nundu that the gang of Slytherin thugs in this compartment had supposedly set on the younger Weasley. Thinking of the description of that _gang_, he tried to see who else was in the compartment and the boy obviously worked out what he was looking for because he held up four fingers, moving aside as he pointed to himself and then behind him. Looking at where he was pointing he saw three apparently first year girls with two more cats and nodded his thanks, snorting to himself again…. Oh yes, this was definitely the vicious gang of older Slytherin thugs and the dangerous beast that they set on him….. Bill and Charlie hadn't been too bad, and nor even the twins he had to admit, but these two were a disgrace to Hogwarts, let alone Gryffindor.

At that moment Weasley looked up and saw the face with killing curse green eyes glaring at him, and just about wet himself as he scrabbled back in fear. The boy opened the door then and asked. "Can I help you gentlemen?"

Weasley started spluttering about them breaking the rules and having them thrown out for attacking students and the boy shrugged nonchalantly. "I presume that you're talking about that other lying git who forced his way into our compartment just now, on _your_ orders from what he told us. He almost flattened poor Crookshanks here by sitting on him, told me that I didn't know anyone so he was going to be my best mate when I was happily sitting with my three best friends up until he forced his way in, swore at us and got abusive and then ran off screaming like a little girl because he was afraid of my friend's pet cat. If that's the type of pathetic lying gits we'd have to put up with at Hogwarts I don't _want_ to go there!"

The redhead spat out "You!..." and swung up his wand as he angrily started to shout some form of curse at Harry, which he stopped by kicking out and breaking the git's hand and wand.

"You… You broke my wand! I'll have you for that little bastard! That's a crime!"

Harry quickly stepped into the corridor and closed the door behind him as he hissed angrily.

"What _is_ it with you foul mouthed Weasley gits that you can't understand that it's unacceptable to swear around young ladies? Didn't your parents teach _any_ of you how to behave in polite company?"

The Head Boy spoke up. "I can assure you that their older brothers at least knew how to behave as gentlemen Mister…?"

"Oh, sorry, Harry Potter, I just thought that everyone on the train would have known who I was by now because this git apparently ordered the other one to force his way into every compartment until he found me. The previous incident was what happened after his brother I presume forced his way into our compartment and insulted and swore at me and my friends. So, is this git right, will I be thrown out of Hogwarts for trying to stop his brother upsetting my friends again and him attacking me?"

"No Mister Potter, _you_ aren't the one who will in trouble. His brother will no doubt get a talking to and detention from his House Mistress for inappropriate behaviour and language and lying, because I can't see how anyone could mistake you and the three young ladies as a vicious gang of older Slytherins who attacked him and then set a ferocious beast on him…. and while this one certainly looks dangerous, I can't see anyone _but_ these Weasleys mistaking him for a ravening Tiger or Nundu..." Crookshanks purred as he got a scratch from this new human.

"And for the other threat, _this_ Weasley is in serious trouble! Trying to curse a First Year who isn't even holding a wand without cause is unconscionable….. _and_ criminal! When you add in the titles you stand to inherit when you're of age, it only gets worse. He's lucky that he's not of age yet so he won't go to Azkaban, but he'll be expelled if I have any say in the matter! I must say that you have fast feet though Mister Potter, that looked like some sort of Muggle fighting technique but all the stories I've heard said that you were raised as a Pureblood Lord?"

"Where did you hear that Mister….?"

"Oh I'm so sorry, where are my manners? I haven't introduced myself, have I? Archibald Fawley, Head Boy."

"Greetings Mister Fawley… Again, just where did you hear that? I wasn't raised as a Lord in the Magical world, in fact I was told that there was no such thing as magic and was being raised to be a lowly servant rather than a Lord up until my eleventh birthday a month ago. I had to learn how to protect myself from bullies in the streets and playgrounds around where I lived in the non magical world."

Weasley spat out. "_Lies!_ Everyone knows that you were raised in a Noble House! How could you know the proper responses if you were raised as a Muggle as you claim to be?"

The look Harry turned on Weasley made him try to back up, but there was nowhere to go. "_Books_, Mister Weasley. While my friends Luna and Sue were born into this world, Luna's family aren't part of your high society and Sue's Guardian has been too busy with her duties as the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to have time to see to her training properly. However they, my other friend Hermione and I are all avid readers so when Hermione and I discovered that we were to be joining the magical world we got every book we could find that had the information we needed to live in this world and started reading them. I'm sure that Mister Fawley would understand that, as unless I'm mistaken the trim on his robes says that he's in Ravenclaw?"

Fawley nodded. "Indeed Mister Potter, you are correct on both counts, and if you have managed to learn how to behave better in our world than many raised in it from books I think that there's a good chance you and your friends will be in Ravenclaw too."

Harry shrugged. "Who's to know Mister Fawley, I wouldn't mind, but from what I hear many people have preconceived notions about who I am and what I will do and in my experience those type of people try to make sure that things go the way they plan."

Fawley nodded regretfully, troubled by that notion but unable to refute it.

He grabbed Weasley's shoulder. "Come along Weasley, you'll be spending the rest of this trip in the prefects' compartment where I can keep an eye on you because I don't trust you not to try and attack anyone else, even without a wand."

He left with a nod and "Good day Mister Potter." and Harry responded in kind.

* * *

When Harry looked out a little later, a prefect was standing in the corridor making sure that no-one else bothered them, so they put up a minor privacy spell and Harry, Hermione and Luna went back to comparing notes on what they'd discovered about Harry's and Luna's parents' watches. Luna was wearing her Mum's, Hermione was wearing Harry's Mum's and he was wearing his father's because they weren't ordinary watches by any stretch of the imagination. Xeno had been happy to hand his over because he could see that Luna would be better protected by them and he rarely remembered to put it on anyway.

Luna had told them that her Mum and Harry's had been both best friends and 'special' friends at Hogwarts, because her Mum had been the only one who could come close to Lily Evans' brilliance. Her Mum had married her father just after she left Hogwarts because she loved his gentle soul, though being a seer made him 'off' much of the time. Her and Harry's fathers had supported the two of them being 'special' friends and had helped them keep their friendship and partnership going after they finished at Hogwarts. Lily had gained her Masteries two months after they did their NEWTs, but Pandora had gained her's too before the year was out and the Head of the Department of Mysteries had snapped both of them up.

Lily's biggest strength was in Runes and Pandora's was in Spell Creation and Enchanting, and with Magical Britain's (if not the Magical World's) best minds in those fields working together, that led to some incredible achievements. This of course fuelled jealousy from those who were being knocked off their pedestals and eclipsed in fields where they had been revered as the unchallenged masters… all the more so when it was by a Mudblood and a creature (as rumours had been going around at Hogwarts that Pandora Cathbad was a Veela, which was true, even though no-one could prove it as her Veela abilities had been bound until after she finished at Hogwarts) who were rumoured to be witches witches (also unproven but largely true).

This had caused the two of them considerable trouble at Hogwarts, which led to James Potter and Xeno Lovegood offering to play their boyfriends. James had been smitten with Lily since First Year, but they finally became friends and bonded in Fifth Year when he was consoling her about her childhood friend Severus Snape turning on her viciously when she was trying to stand up for him. Lily told James the truth about her and Pandora and he proposed that they pretend to be boyfriend/girlfriend to throw others off the scent. Pandora had been bonded to Xeno since they were children because their families were close and when he heard what James had proposed to Lily, he offered the same to Pandora.

They were all happy with the friendship between them, and Lily and Pandora were commiserating with James and Xeno about the fact they were going to have to get married and have heirs to carry on their family lines, even though they didn't really get on with any women but them. That was why Lily and Pandora made a counter proposal to James and Xeno when they finished at Hogwarts. They weren't in love with them, but they _did_ love them, and would be happy spending the rest of their lives with them and each other, so they proposed that they get married so that they could give James and Xeno the heirs they needed for their families.

That was what they did, and they were as happy as they could be, caught up in the middle of a war as they were, up until Tom Riddle was pointed at James and Lily's son by a prophecy that had been told to Albus Dumbledore…. _The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies..._ Lily was sure that they were being set up by the people they were supposed to be able to trust, even though something inside of her was trying to stop her questioning them when she was at home. The House of Potter's special connection with the goblins got them access to arcane goblin knowledge that most humans could never get anywhere near and Gringott was delighted to work with two witches as brilliant as Lily Potter and Pandora Lovegood so they had free reign in the Goblin Nations' archives.

One of the things they discovered was an ancient tantric ritual that they could use to increase their infants' latent magical power and capacity while they were still in the womb. The ritual required both parents to be powerful, plus another powerful witch to cement the bonding to work. Lily and Pandora had stronger bonds with each other than Lily did with James and Pandora did with Xeno, and while a little 'out there', Xeno was a powerful wizard as well, so after they heard of the prophecy they all agreed to use the tantric rituals to improve their childrens' chances against whatever they would have to face. Lily wasn't actually doing anything with Xeno and nor was Pandora with James in these rituals, but the bond they had with each other provided what the rituals needed to be successful.

The watches were another result of Lily and Pandora's research. On the face of it, they were a pair of elegant 24 hour ladies' watches and matching gentlemen's equivalents, but they were incredibly powerful magical artefacts. They used mainly Goblin Magic and runes, and the mechanisms were created by goblin artisans, but Pandora had created new enchantments for them and Lily had coded the runes for those enchantments. As a result, these watches were both multi-destination portkeys and time turners.

Three of the portkey destinations would take the wearer and anyone else touching them or the watch to the locations of the other three watches and there were twenty one more portkeys to fixed locations. The concepts of Wizarding time turners had also been refined, coded into goblin runes and built into the watches. Like the time chambers, they took a hefty whack of magical energy to initiate but they could take the user farther than wizarding time turners could and they were more precise, they could also work forward _and_ back so the user could return to the point they came from, or even go forward in time.

While goblin artesans built the watches, Lily carved all the runes herself, so no-one but her knew exactly what they were or how they worked, and Gringott had grudgingly agreed that they couldn't trust anyone else with that knowledge so it stayed in her head, it was only her general notes that remained afterwards. James and Xeno only knew what the portkey destinations were and that they were goblin portkeys so they'd be able to pass through nearly all wizarding wards to get Harry and Luna away if anyone came after them, and some basic functions of the time turners. The watches were also keyed to the magical signatures of their designated wearers and would only work for them, but luckily how to change that was in Lily's notes, so they'd reset three of them to their own magical signatures.

* * *

There was also a clue to why Lily was having trouble maintaining her suspicions at home in the letters she left behind, as she noted that she had been finding herself taking her watch and magical alert devices off and leaving them with her jewellery when she was at home, even though they had been specifically created to protect them and their son in case Voldemort came after them. What this said to the next generation of magical geniuses was that there must have been devices in the Potter cottage that were compelling them to act against their own best interests and those devices could have only been planted by people who were supposed to have been trustworthy, which proved that Harry's Mum's suspicions had been well founded.

While they were angry that Harry's parents had been betrayed by people they trusted and they were being very cautious when they experimented with the watches, Harry and Luna were the ones who could best understand what their mothers had been thinking when they created the devices, and investigating how they worked was very exciting and fun. One point that made life…. Interesting…. was the fact that they had used the Celtic calendar, rather than the Julian calendar, so there was very little correlation with what the children were used to. Gringott explained that the goblins only used the Julian calendar when they had to for interactions with humans, so any goblin mechanisms would have been calibrated for the traditional Celtic calendar….

Gringott had paused at that point to explain the significance of the phrase '_born as the seventh month dies' _in the prophecy that James and Lily had been told about. What Lily had been aggravated about was that someone was insisting that it _must_ be referring to Harry and Neville Longbottom, as they were both born at the end of July, the seventh month of the Julian calendar. From their experience of working with a reliable seer like Xeno for years though, they knew that the Celtic calendar often made far more sense in regard to prophecies, and the seventh month in the Celtic calendar was December in the Julian calendar, which would place the event around Yule or the Winter solace, a far more portentous date. The one who told Lily about the prophecy had brushed aside the evidence she presented for this though and insisted that it must refer to July because he refused to consider any opinion but his own.

Gringott nodded when Harry spat out "Dumbledore!" and then continued. "Correct, that is who told your parents about this prophecy Harry, and what he has done since your parents were killed seems to confirm that he has decided to set you up as the child of the prophecy and is trying to ensure that you are where he wants you to be to fulfil his version of this prophecy. I see great danger for you in this because the old man has apparently decided to make you resolve his version of this prophecy. I am certain that the reason your parents died and Neville Longbottom's parents are now incapacitated in Saint Mungo's was because that Dumbledore's version of it was intentionally fed to Tom Riddle. I have no proof but I believe that Pandora also died because she was trying to stop you being used for this. Dumbledore is revered by the Wizards but he has no patience with anyone who questions his decisions or gets in the way of his plans. He preaches forgiveness and second chances but does not hesitate to sacrifice anyone if it may help him get him the result he desires. You and Neville Longbottom remain in great danger because he has marked you especially as being important to this prophecy, so ensure that you keep your eye on him as he is a dangerous foe…."

"We discovered something else of interest when we were trying to find some meaning in what we were told of this prophecy after that fateful Halloween... It turns out that Tom Riddle, the one who calls himself Lord Voldemort, was born on the Thirty First of December in the Julian calendar, which means that Tom Riddle is more likely to be the child who was born as the seventh month dies because that prophecy is real, but it was given by the renowned seer Sybil Trelawney…. generally known as Cassandra Trelawney or Cassandra Vablatsky because they sounded more impressive as seer names…. to Dumbledore nearly seventy years ago, which was the right timeframe to foretell Riddle's coming."

"This of course begs the question of who the 'Dark Lord' of the prophecy truly is. Most in Magical Britain would say that it must have been Grindelwald, but that would lead to questions about why the prophecy was still active because Dumbledore supposedly killed him back in Forty Five. However the story about Grindelwald being killed was also a lie…. Dumbledore was Grindelwald's lover so he refused to kill him, not that I believe he could have because Grindelwald was more powerful than him even before he had gained control of the Elder Wand, so Grindelwald has been kept imprisoned in Nurmungard since then. Dumbledore took control of the Elder wand after he cursed Grindelwald in the back and stole it from him, and he has used it to gain power in the Wizarding world. He also moulded Tom Riddle into what he became, which is why I believe that the prophecy actually refers to Riddle as '_t__he one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord',_ and Dumbledore as the Dark Lord. In early Nineteen Eighty, Dumbledore hired Trelawney's Great Granddaughter, a fraud who shares her name, to repeat the prophecy at the Hogs Head Inn in Hogsmeade and made sure that it was overheard by a bitter young Death Eater by the name of Severus Snape, so he would take it to Riddle. Dumbledore did this after he heard that two babes were due to be born around the end of July to ones who were getting in the way of his plans, your parents and the Longbottoms. That is why you and Neville Longbottom will be in grave danger around Albus Dumbledore Harry."

* * *

As Harry was musing about this, he saw a boy walk past who reminded him of Auntie Alice, so he was fairly sure who he was. He quickly went to open the door and quietly call out. "Heir Longbottom?"

The boy turned around and gave him a peer's nod of greeting, as he was fairly sure who this was. "Yes, and you are Duke Potter I believe?"

Harry nodded. "Yes Heir Longbottom, that is correct. I would have a word with you if you are not too busy?"

The boy looked flustered but shook his head. "No My Lord, I am not busy, I was just trying to find my toad as it's escaped again."

Harry nodded musingly. "What is your toad called?"

He looked confused now. "Trevor, but what..."

Harry held a hand up to stop him as he turned to the prefect who was keeping other students away from their compartment. "Excuse me Sir, would you be able to try and summon Heir Longbottom's toad for him please? It is called Trevor."

The boy nodded, a little embarrassed that he hadn't thought of that when the boy asked him if he'd seen it, but then he didn't know that this little Firsty was the Longbottom Heir and had been a little put out that the Head Boy had told him to stand here and make sure that no-one else bothered Harry Potter… Mind you he'd rather be here than in Weasley's shoes, word was that the idiot had actually tried to curse Harry Potter for no good reason but Potter had somehow taken him out and broken his wand without using his own.

He made sure that he turned away from Harry Potter before he pulled out his wand and cast an "Accio Trevor the Toad" down the corridor, when nothing happened he turned around and motioned the two boys out of the way before trying again. This time an irate toad came flying down the corridor and Harry Potter caught it as it flew past, handing it to the Longbottom boy before they both thanked him and went into the compartment. He mused that those two were far more polite than most of the jumped up little lordlings they'd had at Hogwarts, even though they would be far more powerful than any of the others, in fact Potter already was from what he'd been told.

Once inside, Harry made the proper introductions, but before he got into what he wanted to discuss, he asked Neville whether he'd be prepared to trust him if he gave a magical oath that he meant him no harm and would not knowingly allow harm to come to him. Neville looked confused but nodded so Harry gave the oath and then had him take his arm. When Neville was holding onto his arm, he used one of the portkeys on his watch to take the two of them to the Healers' Hall under Gringotts. Most of the senior healers there knew Harry Potter by sight from the time they'd spent working on him and his mates, and they also knew that for all his youth, he was officially recognised as Duke Potter, Patron of the Goblin Nations, so he had more authority in Gringotts than most goblins.

The Head Healer performed the requested scans over Neville himself and swore at what he found.

He gave a feral goblin grin and nodded when Harry asked. "Dumbledore?"

"Yes Harry Potter, it was the same one who bound your abilities, along with Professor McGonagall, Madam Figg and many others, I presume that you want the bindings and compulsions removed?"

"That will be Heir Longbottom's decision." He turned to the boy in question. "Neville, the reason I brought you here was because I could see that you had your abilities bound, that's one of the talents I have. The bindings on you are?" He looked a question at the healer.

"Much the same as your's though not as severe, memory, intellect, magic, plus compulsions to believe and obey Albus Dumbledore."

Harry nodded. "Thank you Healer. As the Healer said Neville I and others have been interfered with by Dumbledore in the same way. The healers here can remove all these from you if you wish, but unfortunately we won't have time this visit to allow you to be trained enough to protect your mind against Dumbledore, because he is a master of Mind Magics and probes anyone with impunity if he believes they might know anything he wants to know, so for the time being you would need to have your memory modified to cover up the fact that you've been here until you have a chance to learn to protect yourself…. do you agree to this?"

"What?…. Yes. Yes please Harry! If I've had bindings and compulsions put on me by anyone other than my parents I want them gone, and my Gran has taught me enough to understand that we can't afford to let him know that we're onto him until I can keep him out of my mind."

Harry nodded again. "Good, one more thing before we go into this, we'll discuss it more when you're ready, but my and Luna's Mums were brilliant witches and they were sure that Dumbledore has set me, and to a lesser degree you, up to be the so called children of a prophecy. We're pretty sure that that was why my parents were killed and your's are in Saint Mungo's… Sorry about that by the way, when we have a chance to talk about it, I'd like to have the healers here tell you what they think they might be able to do for them, they can't make any promises of course but they believe that there's a good chance for you to get them back from the state they're in at the moment, and hopefully much more. But that was why I wanted to talk to you, Director Gringott is worried that you and I are still targets for Dumbledore and wanted to warn you to be very careful around him. So, are you ready to get rid of the bindings and compulsions?"

Neville looked more confident as he nodded. "Yes I am!"

"Good. Healer, if you are ready?"

Half an hour later, Neville was standing a lot taller, but Harry handed him the wand that he'd taken out of his pocket and put on the table before they started his treatment and asked him to cast a spell with it. After observing how it worked he asked.

"Who's wand was that Neville?"

The nervous and downcast Neville made a reappearance as he said. "My father's. My Gran thought I would do better with his wand because he was such a strong wizard."

"Has it ever worked for you?"

Neville shook his head. "Not really, the spell I just cast was the best I've ever managed with it."

Harry looked at the Healer. "It looks as though Madam Longbottom needs to be seen as well Healer, she is hailed as being a strong and intelligent witch, not an idiot."

He shook his head as he turned back to Neville. "I'd say that Dumbledore must have gotten to your Grandmother as well to try and keep you as weak as possible Neville, because that's just stupid. The Druid Houses have something that works better than most wands for their Head and Heir, but you will need a regular wand for most things at Hogwarts and that wand doesn't suit you at all, come on, we need to get you a proper wand before we go back."

Neville started to say that Mister Ollivander would never sell a wand to two eleven year old boys when Harry suddenly morphed into a man in his twenties, passing it off as 'sort of a glamour' when Neville wanted to know how he'd done that. He didn't say anything to Neville, but he spent most of the walk down Diagon Alley working on modifying the magic masking spell enough that Ollivander wouldn't recognise him in this form.

As soon as Ollivander saw the wand Neville was using, he dismissed it as totally unsuitable for him, and half an hour later he was matched to a cherry and unicorn hair wand. Back at Gringotts the Head Healer altered Neville's memory and put him in a confounded state that would last about fifteen minutes. Harry used the time turner in his watch to take them both back to five minutes after they'd left the compartment and then the portkey linked to Hermione's watch to take them back into their compartment on the Hogwarts Express.

When Neville was back with them Luna handed him his toad and he grimaced at it. "My Great Uncle Algie who almost killed me by dropping me out of a second storey window and off the Blackpool Pier to supposedly see whether I had magic gave me this rotten thing as an insult. I had to take it because he's Gran's brother but I hate it and I hate him..." It was obvious what was going through his mind when he looked at the window musingly but Hermione cut him off.

"It's your uncle's fault, not the toad's Neville, why don't you just release it when we get to Hogsmeade and you can both go on with your lives away from each other?"

He looked at her musingly for a moment and then nodded gratefully, as that would resolve the issue nicely and he wouldn't feel guilty about it afterwards.

* * *

When they reached Hogsmeade, no-one gave Hagrid greeting Harry a second thought, as he was still wearing his father's appearance. Neville released Trevor when they reached the lake, but he made sure that no-one but their little group heard him saying. "Good riddance you wretched thing!" as he did so. Neville joined Harry, Hermione and Luna in their boat because Sue's friend Hannah Abbott had caught up with her and was demanding to know where she'd been on the train because she couldn't find her.

When they reached the castle, Draco Malfoy strutted up to arrogantly introduce himself and inform Harry that he'd make sure that he didn't get tied up with the wrong sort of people, sneering at Hermione, Luna and Neville as he said that, but Harry froze him out as he looked at the hand that was stuck out to him and then turned to Neville. "Heir Longbottom, may I beg your assistance in clearing something up for me please?"

"Of course Duke Potter."

"Thank you, you see the problem is that I cannot understand how someone who was supposedly raised in a Noble House in this world could be guilty of such a heinous breach of etiquette as this. The books we read to prepare ourselves for this world led us to believe that the rules of etiquette here were quite specific. This belief was supported when I met you as you observed the rules I learned of, so how is that the Heir of a quite junior Noble House would presume to introduce himself and advise me _as my superior_ when he should not speak to me at all until after I have recognised him?"

"Ah, yes. I understand your quandary here Duke Potter. The problem is that like many of the so called Noble Houses, the House of Malfoy only recently gained the distinction of being able to call itself Noble through marrying the daughter of a superior house, in this case the Most Noble and Most Ancient Druid House of Black that you yourself are Heir to, because Malfoy's mother was given a Black Baroness title as part of her dowry. You see many of the superior houses grant their daughters titles when they marry beneath themselves to prevent them losing the status of being part a Noble House. What this means is that, while the Heads of these Houses which have been elevated by their wives' titles may call themselves Lords, they have no background in the rules of etiquette of the true Noble Houses and therefore their sons often behave like the commoners they really are because they have not been raised properly… However I must say that I _am_ surprised that Lady Malfoy, as a daughter of the House of Black, would have failed to teach her son the proper behaviour. I beg you to forgive Malfoy Duke Potter, as I do not believe that he is the one who should be blamed for his ignorance…."

He stopped and turned to Malfoy. "I would be very careful from here on in if I were you Malfoy and I suggest that you owl your mother at the first opportunity to get her to explain to you just how badly you have erred and what you must do to make amends, because you have not only acted extremely inappropriately towards the Head of a Most Noble and Most Ancient House, you have compounded your error by failing to show the Heir to the Most Noble and Most Ancient House that your own mother came from the requisite respect. If you had any training at all in proper etiquette you would understand just how much of a mistake you have made here."

Malfoy flushed at being spoken to this way, his father had told him to befriend Potter but he wasn't about to lose face by allowing him and the Longbottom Squib to denigrate him! "Who do you think you're talking to Longbottom? When my father hears about this you two will pay for the disrespect you have shown me here!"

Neville turned to Harry and asked tersely. "Do I have your leave to address this slur on behalf of both of us Duke Potter?"

Harry nodded with a smile. "By all means Heir Longbottom."

Neville nodded respectfully but firmly to him before turning back to Malfoy. "Draco Lucius Malfoy, Heir to the Junior Noble House of Malfoy. You have now disrespected both Duke Henry James Potter, Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient Druid House of Potter and its Associated Houses and Heir to the Most Noble and Most Ancient Druid House of Black and its Associated Houses, and myself, Baron Neville Francis Longbottom, Heir to the Senior Noble and Most Ancient Druid House of Longbottom and its Associated Houses, even _after_ Duke Potter made the effort to draw your attention to your error and request clarification as to how you could be so ignorant of the rules of etiquette that you would presume to advise him on who to associate with. As you have now escalated this matter by directing threats at both of us, the Houses of Potter and Longbottom can no longer ignore your actions. The House of Malfoy is hereby notified that the Regents to the Houses of Potter and Longbottom, and quite possibly the Steward of the House of Black as well, will be taking this matter to the Wizengamot and pursuing the maximum penalties allowable as recompense for your insults and threats against our houses and persons…. I strongly recommend that you do not say another word Heir Malfoy, as we will be taking each and every insult, threat and action against us up until the time it goes before the Wizengamot into account!"

With that Neville gave Malfoy the nod to an irritating inferior and he and Harry escorted Luna and Hermione away. Malfoy went to chase after them but Theodore Nott grabbed him and tersely told him to drop it. He didn't much like the little ponce but their families were aligned so his father would punish him if he allowed the idiot to make any more trouble for his family, he'd made quite enough already.

Minerva had watched the altercation with great amusement, all the more so because unless he heard from one of the few First Years present who understood the significance of what was said, Dumbledore would have no idea of what had happened and would remain in the dark about what came out here until it was addressed in the Wizengamot. She, Pomona and Filius had agreed that they would be enforcing the rules that required them to accompany any students of their houses who were called to meetings with the Headmaster, and Snape had always insisted on doing so with his Slytherins to ensure that nothing ever got out that would come back at his true Death Eater masters, which should prevent Dumbledore using more intrusive measures to get the students' memories of what happened.

* * *

There was no outward sign that there was anything unusual through most of the sorting. As the Sorting Hat recognised that they were bonded to his master, who Myrddin could sense was in the hall, it went along with Hermione and Luna's requests to be put in Hufflepuff with Sue. Harry himself was more of a problem because Dumbledore had used the Elder Wand to put a strong compulsion on it to place him in Gryffindor, and it would give the game away if Harry used his power as Myrddin's true master to override that compulsion. With the extra confidence he gained from having his abilities and pride restored, Neville had been placed in Gryffindor like his father though so Harry agreed to be placed there with him.

He did give Myrddin one little nudge however. He couldn't see any reason for the Weasleys to be pushing so hard to befriend him unless they'd been asked to, which said to him that it had to have been done at the request of someone else, and the only one that made any sense was Dumbledore. That was why he suggested to Myrddin that a greedy, self centred and ambitious boy like Ronald Weasley who had no honour or courage would be more suited to today's Slytherin than Gryffindor. That should keep Weasley far enough away from him to make him useless for Dumbledore's plans to use him to spy on Harry and steer him in the directions he wanted him to go. When Weasley came up to be sorted, Myrddin saw that his master was correct, this one had none of the qualities a Gryffindor was meant to have, he didn't really qualify as a true Slytherin either but half of them didn't and he fitted there far better than he did in Gryffindor, so it shouted. **"**_**Slytherin!**_**" **

The boy threw a tantrum and refused to go to Slytherin, so in the end Minerva had to bind and silence him then levitate him over to the Slytherin table. His twin brothers Fred and George were more amused about him taking over from them as the shame of the family than they were outraged by a brother of their's going into Slytherin. His ex-prefect brother Percy was certainly outraged, but he was too worried about what was going to happen to him after the feast to care about his idiot brother. Professor McGonagall had been furious when she ripped the prefect badge off of his robes, enough to tear a large patch out of them that was plain to see, so he was terrified about the prospect of facing her, his parents, Professor Dumbledore, Duke Black and possibly even the Director of the DMLE in the Headmaster's office.


	3. Into The Lion's Den

**It was easier than I expected to write Petunia and Dudley trying to do better, and I'm finding that I'm liking having them change sides. A reformed Snape was never going to happen, I tried that once but it was just too hard. It's like a good Dumbledore, Vernon or Marge, there's too much evidence in canon to prove it to be a fallacy.**

**To try and forestall the expected arguments that Harry is too mature for his age, I submit that he has been effectively fending for himself since he was a toddler and had worked out how to play on his Aunt's fears and guilt to get better treatment from her when he was four. He had also been in secondary school since he was eight and had finished his GCSEs at the age most students were finishing Primary School so he had spent much of his time dealing with teenagers and adults, which would help him mature much faster, as would learning about human interactions and politics from the reference books he devoured so avorously.**

**Usual disclaimers, no rights to anything from JKR's stories.**

Except for the problem of the Weasley boy being placed in Slytherin, Albus was happy with the way the sorting had gone. He knew that he'd have a hard time dealing with Severus and Molly Weasley about that, because neither of them would accept a Weasley being in Slytherin, but he was more worried about the fact that he'd have to find someone else to befriend Harry Potter and steer him in the right direction. The other Gryffindor First Year boys were unacceptable because they didn't come from the right families…. perhaps he could get the older Weasley who was a prefect to become a big brother figure for him?

It was a shock when McGonagall informed him that he was required for a meeting in his office with the Weasleys and others immediately after the feast, because he couldn't understand how the Weasleys could have found out about their son's sorting this quickly. He only started to realise that this wasn't about the sorting when McGonagall and Sprout arrived with Harry Potter, Percy and Ron Weasley, three First Year Hufflepuff girls and the Head Boy, but when Amelia Bones stepped out of the floo with the Weasleys and a couple of Aurors, followed by Sirius Black, he knew that he was in a world of trouble.

Black showed documents confirming that he was magically accepted to stand in Loco Parentis for Potter and two of the girls and Bones displayed the same for her ward Susan Bones, then McGonagall asked the Head Boy to explain what they were there for because the Weasleys hardly needed to prove that they had rights over their sons. Arthur Weasley had to silence and bind his wife when she started screaming abuse at Harry Potter and tried to attack him after she heard what he'd said and that he'd broken her son's wand, but Dumbledore wasn't worried about that. What he _was_ worried about was the fact that they stated that Percy Weasley had insisted that his younger brother make sure he got into every compartment until he found Harry Potter, because it was bound to come out that that instruction had ultimately come from him. He tried to nip this in the bud.

"I'm afraid that this is a very serious matter Mister Weasley, no matter how upset you were there is no excuse for trying to curse a younger student like that. You will have to be penalised for this… Yes, you will lose your status as a prefect and serve one, no _two_ months of detentions with Professor McGonagall. I hope you have learned your lesson, because if this happens again the penalties will be even more severe."

Nearly everyone in the office was staring at him at that point, Percy Weasley was upset because he was not only losing his brand new prefect's badge, he was getting more detentions than he and the twins had served between them in the time they'd been in Hogwarts. Molly Weasley was furious about her son being punished, all the more because she was still bound and silenced, Ronald Weasley was still whining because he didn't want to be a slimy snake and everyone else was shocked that Dumbledore could think that that would be enough to address something like this.

* * *

Amelia Bones was the first to find her voice. "Are you joking Dumbledore? That _criminal_ attempted to curse the barely eleven year old Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter and its Associated Houses…." Sirius held up a hand and she nodded. "_And_ Heir to the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black and its Associated Houses for no reason, and the boy wasn't even holding a wand! Percival Weasley will be expelled from Hogwarts with his wand snapped and banned from using magic here and now and we'll be placing a trace on him to ensure that he doesn't get another wand and attack anyone else in Britain or I'll be shutting Hogwarts down until this matter is resolved by the full Wizengamot!"

Dumbledore drew himself up and thundered. "You do not have the authority to close Hogwarts Madam Bones! Only I, as the Headmaster, have that authority! And I would have been notified as his Magical Guardian if Mister Potter had taken up his titles."

Sirius snorted and held up some more documents. "Director Bones may not have the authority to shut down Hogwarts by herself Headmaster, but these magically accepted proxies for the Heirs of all Four Founders and the seats I control on the Hogwarts Board say that _I_ do, and I will do so the moment Director Bones advises me that it is necessary. And as for your being Duke Potter's Magical Guardian, we all know you were never that. Madam Bones happened to recognise Duke Potter when she took young Countess Bones in to get her wand and convinced his Aunt to let her take him back to Gringotts to get him to accept his titles, he was shown his parents' wills and that was how they discovered that I was not only innocent of what I was thrown into Azkaban for, I'd never been tried as the law mandated I must. Madam Bones had him escorted home when he finished at Gringotts and commenced proceedings to get me freed."

Dumbledore went white, but shook his head. "You _can't_ have the Founders' proxies, those must be fakes…. And you do not have any seats on the Hogwarts Board Black!"

"That's Duke Black or Your Grace to you Dumbledore! Did you miss the fact that I said '_magically_ accepted' old man? You of all people should know that it is impossible to fake or force magically acceptance, since you were forced to get the Wizengamot clerks to manually record the votes for those Potter proxies that you illegally claimed. And I _do_ have seats on the Hogwarts Board, because I've reclaimed the Black seat from Cousin Narcissa's husband and as Harry's legal and magically accepted Guardian I have reclaimed the Potter seat along with all the proxies that you claimed. Haven't your minions told you yet that they have all lost the Potter seats and proxies you gave them illegally? Madam Bones actually holds the proxy for the Potter seat now because she currently has a ward at Hogwarts and I know that she will hold the well being of Hogwarts' students to be her top priority in that role."

Dumbledore was staring at him with his mouth open so Amelia decided to strike while the iron was hot. "So what is it to be Headmaster, we have seen irrefutable proof of Percival Weasley's guilt from an independent and trusted witness, is he being expelled and having his wand snapped here and now, with your irrevocable oath to support him being banned from using magic when the case is put before the Wizengamot, or does Duke Black have to use his authority to close Hogwarts until the matter is resolved?…. I shouldn't need to point this out but I feel I do, if we are forced to close Hogwarts to resolve this matter, it will almost certainly re-open with a new Headmaster."

If anything Dumbledore went even whiter when she made it clear that he'd lose the position of Headmaster if he forced them to do it that way and the documents were all signed and sealed and Percy's wand snapped within ten minutes. Amelia wanted to hurt the old bastard though so she decided to twist the knife little more.

"Duke Potter, I noted that you mentioned that Ronald Weasley, the one who was sorted into Slytherin tonight, insulted my ward along with you and your other friends in the prelude to the incident with Percival Weasley on the Hogwarts Express, can you recount his actions while we have the Weasley parents here please? Oh sorry, I should have prefaced that request by formally stating that I am asking this as the Bones Regent, not the Director of Magical Law Enforcement."

"That's quite alright Madam Bones, I quite understand your concern for your niece and ward, Susan has spoken of you often, and with a great deal of affection and respect. As for the insult, there were no insults specifically directed at Susan, it was more her being included in the general insults thrown at the four of us, the inappropriate language being used in front of the young ladies of their calibre, dismissive looks and lack of the respect that should by rights have been shown to the Head of a Senior Noble and Most Ancient House. It wasn't until a later incident with another boy that Heir Longbottom explained to me that most children in Magical Britain are raised with no knowledge of its rules of etiquette nowadays and therefore can't be held wholly to blame for their lack of manners. I do not believe that the disrespect shown to Susan was sufficient to require the House of Bones to take action against the House of Weasley, but I will of course provide my memories of the incident to you so that you can decide for yourself…"

Susan blushed at that as she realised that Auntie Ami would hear her 'tormenting dumb animals' comment, but firmed her shoulders, she hadn't done anything wrong, none of them had. They'd just wound up a rude and uninvited interloper up a little.

* * *

"There was something else however that concerned me that I'd like to talk to you about in your capacity as the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement though Madam Bones?"

"Of course Duke Potter, would you like to discuss this privately?"

"No, here is fine, as it almost certainly involves others here… You see Ronald Weasley was angry with me because his brother Percy had told him that he had to check every compartment on the Hogwarts Express until he found me, and told him how to find compartments that were under notice me not charms like our's was..."

Dumbledore started to say that students were not allowed to use notice-me-not charms on the Hogwarts Express but Amelia snapped at him to shut up and let Duke Potter finish.

Harry nodded to her. "Thank you Madam Bones, we learned how to cast notice me not charms because with all the speculation we read in the Daily Prophet about what I'd be like when I started at Hogwarts I didn't think I'd have a minute's peace if we didn't. I believe that it was only the fact that Mister Fawley had a prefect posted near our compartment keeping others from disturbing us after the incident with Percy Weasley that kept others out, thank you for that by the way Mister Fawley, I haven't had a chance to see you to thank you since then."

The Head boy nodded. "That's quite alright Duke Potter, and as a point of reference Madam Bones, the prefect who was there told me that he had to send at least two dozen people or groups on their way, so Duke Potter's concerns about that were quite valid."

Harry nodded his thanks and continued. "So as I was saying, Percy Weasley reportedly ordered his brother to check in every compartment, including those under notice me nots, and Ronald Weasley was in quite a strop about how much effort he'd had to put into doing that by the time he found me. When I asked him why he and his brother were so insistent that he find me, he sat down without being invited, almost on top of Hermione's cat so that the poor thing had to scrabble out of the way to avoid being squashed, and informed me that it was because I didn't know anyone and he was going to be my best friend. I'm afraid that we had a bit of fun with him after that, until he started swearing at us and calling us all mental. At that point Hermione explained to him in words she thought he'd understand because he obviously wasn't very bright that he was mistaken, because I'd been her best friend for three years and we'd been close friends with Luna and Susan since we'd all met a month ago, and I pointed out that he'd been quite rude to all of us and asked him to leave. He started swearing again and telling me that I couldn't order him about and he was staying right there, and in the end I must admit that I gave Hermione's cat a nudge because he'd obviously wanted to get back at him for trying to sit on him. Crookshanks chased him out screaming like a little girl..."

He stopped and turned to his friends. "I apologise for any slight you may feel at that term ladies, I'm sure none of you would have ever made such an unseemly spectacle of yourselves, that's just a commonly used phrase in our world, and as you will remember it certainly described his reaction." The girls just smiled and waved at him to continue.

"And when Crookshanks returned triumphant we sealed the door to keep out whoever it was that he would bring back with him. From what Mister Fawley told me, Weasley told his brother a pile of lies about being set upon by a pack of vicious Slytherins… hmm, he'll be in trouble if _that_ gets back to his house now, won't he? Who ending up making their ferocious Tiger or Nundu attack him so he barely escaped with his life to get him to come after us and Mister Fawley apparently followed them because he found the story unbelievable… Sorry, I got a little off track there Madam Bones but the issue I wanted to ask you about is this… I cannot see any valid reason for a teenager like Percival Weasley to have this much interest in trying to ensure that his brother befriended me before I could get to Hogwarts and start making my own friends, so who's orders was he acting on and why were _they_ interested in me? I find it rather disturbing that adults who have no valid connection to me are apparently trying to control who I know and who I talk to, but then it's been that way most of my life, seeing as I was taken away from the ones my parents wanted to raise me when they were killed."

Molly Weasley and Albus Dumbledore had gone white when Harry asked who's orders Percy was acting on (it was a relief to see that Arthur Weasley at least looked shocked rather than upset, so perhaps he hadn't been in on it), and Dumbledore looked like he wanted to run when Harry added that last bit. Amelia didn't miss any of that and she started on Percy. "Duke Potter has asked a very pertinent question Mister Weasley, who's orders _were_ you acting on when you ordered your brother to intrude on the privacy of the students in every compartment on the Hogwarts Express until he located and befriended Harry Potter, even those under notice me not charms?"

Percy was spluttering as he tried to find a way to avoid answering that, but the desperate looks he kept shooting at his mother and no-one else, beseeching her to get him out of this, were enough of an answer and Amelia signalled Arthur to lift the Silencing charm from his wife. "It appears that your son was acting on _your_ orders Missus Weasley, would you care to explain?"

"You can't do this to me! I haven't done anything wrong, Albus just asked me to look out for the boy and have Ronald be his friend because he didn't know anyone."

"Oh we'll get to _Albus_ soon, don't you worry about that, but you haven't explained why you instructed one of your sons to make sure that another of your sons forcibly intruded on the privacy of other Hogwarts students, some of whom could well have been young ladies in a state of undress because they were changing into their robes, until he found Duke Potter and somehow forced him to be his friend. I suggest that you explain yourself now, because if you make me use Veritaserum to get the answers it will go worse for you, and I'll get authorisation to use Veritaserum on your sons from either your husband or the Wizengamot unless I'm satisfied that I have the full story from you..."

Dumbledore flinched away from the finger she pointed at him as if it were a lit wand when he tried to tell her that she couldn't do that. "You will _not_ be part of any Wizengamot proceedings on this matter Albus Dumbledore, because one of the suspects has already identified you as having some part in these criminal activities…. And considering just who it was who was attacked on the Hogwarts Express, I do not foresee any appreciable difficulty in getting authorisation to do what is necessary to investigate the matter."

"So are you going to talk Molly Weasley, or will we be questioning half of your family under Veritaserum until we get the full story of this plot against Duke Potter? While you're at it, if you have knowingly received any money that was originally from the Potter vaults in the last ten years, you better tell us now because it will go very badly for you if we find out from somewhere else."

Amelia found Molly Weasley's sudden faint at that suspiciously convenient, so she called for the DMLE officers to take her and her sons Pervical and Ronald first to the DMLE healers to be checked out, then to the holding cells to be held without _any_ visitors until she was ready to question them. Then she turned on Dumbledore. "The same goes for you Headmaster, if you tell us the whole truth about your part in this voluntarily it will go better for you than it will if we have to use Veritaserum to get it out of you."

Dumbledore chuckled at her. "You didn't really believe that that threat would be able to make me talk, did you Amelia? You know full well that you can't force me to take Veritaserum because you can't prosecute me for anything so long as I'm the Chief Warlock."

His amusement faded as she gave him a grim smile, saying "Very well Headmaster..." before she turned to the Senior Auror who'd remained when the others left. "Auror Robards, let the record show that Professor Dumbledore has explicitly refused to voluntarily inform the DMLE of what part he had in the matter we have been called here to address on the basis that he cannot be forced to testify under Veritaserum because he cannot be prosecuted _so__ long as_ he is the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot under the law originally proposed by himself and then Minister Bagnold…. When was that Professor Dumbledore?"

Dumbledore was just staring at her, unable to accept that he, Albus Dumbledore, had been tricked into refusing to voluntarily offer information on the basis that he couldn't be forced to testify under Veritaserum because of the law he and Bagnold had put through after the war to give themselves exemption from prosecution when they were doing deals with the Death Eaters to buy their freedom… In front of a Senior Auror representing the DMLE in his official capacity who _wasn't_ in his pocket! This was bad, this was _very_ bad! Bones knew full well that she couldn't prosecute him while he was the Chief Warlock, but explicitly refusing to talk _because_ she couldn't force him to testify under Veritaserum was tantamount to admitting guilt, and that was sure to be used when they were going after Molly Weasley and her brats.

They'd also made it obvious that they were going to be playing the Noble House etiquette card in this and that would go against him as well, because he'd never bothered learning any of that guff since he used his popularity as the Vanquisher of Grindelwald to get into his positions of power, and being the Leader of the Light had been enough to let him ignore the Nobles' petty protocols…. But the Wizengamot was under the power of the Noble Houses, so he was between a rock and a hard place now. Why couldn't that stupid cow just do as she was told without embellishing things?

The looks everyone was giving him as they left made it quite clear that he wasn't forgiven for the now _Duke_ Black being thrown into Azkaban for a decade as an innocent man without the trial the law insisted he have, or the life James Potter and Lily Evans' son had been forced to lead for nearly ten years either. Evans had been the darling of all the teachers, so finding out that her son had been dumped with Muggles who mistreated him instead of the people he was meant to go to because the Potters' wills had been sealed made Albus Dumbledore a very unpopular man in Hogwarts.

* * *

Back in their Dorm room, Harry taught Neville the charms he used to turn his four poster bed into a secure compartment once the curtains were closed. He explained to the other two boys that this was not intended to be any slight on them, but he had already had people try to kill him more than once, plus a prefect trying to curse him on the Hogwarts Express. On top of that, Voldemort could well have chosen to go after Neville instead of him first that night, and if his parents hadn't managed to protect him as well as Harry's did he might have died that night. In the end he taught Dean and Seamus some of the charms to make their beds into private compartments that people couldn't get into as well before they all went to bed, because Auntie Minnie had told him stories about the Weasley twins raiding the dorms to prank other students at night.

Harry popped into Neville's four poster compartment to grab him and pop them both into his trunk after they'd all settled down, so that Neville could get the training he needed to learn to pop in and out of his own trunk, which had replaced the one he brought to Hogwarts by morning. Neville was effectively four or five months behind Sue in training, but he had more magical strength, along with years more training in and a deep understanding of the Noble House etiquette and politics of Magical Britain and a natural talent for Herbology, so he wasn't too far behind to catch up with a bit of motivation…. And Harry, Hermione and Luna could see what Sue already knew about Neville, that teaching the rest of them about the topics like Noble House etiquette and politics and Herbology, which he was brilliant at, would help let him accept his own worth.

They had a laugh at breakfast the next morning, because the girls told them about what had happened after they had to go back because Hannah Abbott had dragged the prefects and Professor Sprout out of bed in the middle of the night when she couldn't open Sue or the other girls' curtains or get them to answer her. Sue had changed back into her nightgown and made a show of being extremely grumpy about being woken up because the business with those Weasley boys on the Hogwarts Express had made yesterday a very wearing day.

When Hannah huffily said that she should have access to her because she was her best friend, Sue snapped back that she was starting to reconsider whether she wanted to be friends with her at _all_, now that she'd seen what a self centred and stubborn little cow she was. She'd _told_ her that she'd had a very upsetting day so she wanted to get a good night's sleep to try and get over it, she'd _also_ told her that many of the things she'd seen and heard over the past month were private to her other friends so she couldn't talk about them. She'd gone to bed early to try and stop her constant questions about those things and now she had their House Mistress waking her up in the middle of the night because Hannah couldn't get past the protections around her bed? What sort of friend was _that_?

Hermione chose that moment to open her curtails and snap that if anyone woke _her_ up again that night, she'd be hexing first and asking questions later! Pomona placated her, while obviously laughing inside, and promised her that there would be no more disruptions that night, then proceeded to quietly tell Hannah that she had two weeks detention for being a selfish little girl and disturbing everyone's sleep for no reason, and if she didn't stay in her bed quietly for the rest of the night she would get an extra two _months_ detentions. The only exception to that would be going to the toilet and even then only if she was very quiet and went straight there and back without disturbing her room mates.

When they got up the next morning, Hannah was trying to justify her actions without apologising so Sue went to have a word with Megan Jones as soon as she arrived in the Great Hall and then the two of them headed up to the High Table to asked Professor Sprout if Megan, who was in the other First Year Girls' Dorm room, could swap beds with Hannah to stop Hannah disrupting everyone's sleep again.

* * *

Snape tried to deduct twenty points from Hufflepuff for the girls disrupting the professors' breakfast but Pomona rounded on him and stated, loud enough for everyone to hear, that if he didn't stop vilifying the students of her house in class and out, she'd fail every single Slytherin in Herbology. Minerva was sitting next to her and piped up. "Hear, Hear! That goes for my house as well…. And the same goes for your sabotaging every non Slytherin student's results in Potions while giving your own house high grades for substandard work, you will teach and grade everyone fairly from this point on or your Slytherins will be failing both Transfiguration and Herbology from now on Professor Snape!"

Filius Flitwick piped up at that. "_And_ Charms! This has been allowed to go on for far too long! Students in our houses are being barred from their chosen professions because one vindictive man decides that he can do whatever he wishes with their Potions grades and the one who is supposed to control him refuses to do so! Well see how your Slytherins do without Charms, Transfiguration _or_ Herbology OWLs and NEWTs from now on Professor Snape! I dare say that will hurt them even more than our students not having the Potions grades to get into their chosen professions!"

Dumbledore was so outraged that he forgot his own mantra of not discussing anything in front of anyone who didn't need to hear it and roared. "Enough! You will not be allowed to destroy students' prospects out of petty spite like that! I order you to drop this right now or you will be fired!"

Minerva patted her mouth with her napkin and placed it on the table before she stood to leave the Great Hall without a word so he shouted "Where do you think you are going Professor McGonagall?" at her.

She fixed him with a look that silenced him. "I am going to floo the new Chairman of the Hogwarts Board, the Director of the Wizarding Examination Authority, the Head Healer at Saint Mungo's and the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to set up a meeting so that we can resolve this matter before any more Hogwarts students have their prospects stolen from them Headmaster. You see I quite agree with what you said about teachers not being allowed to destroy students' prospects out of petty spite. I would suggest that you and Professor Snape get the evidence together to support your arguments as quick as you can, because I and the other professors who agree with me on this already have our's together and we won't be allowing you to delay the meeting when it is called."

With that she proceeded on out of the hall with him ineffectually calling after her that he forbid her to do this. Pomona finished her breakfast and went to the Hufflepuff table to remind Hannah Abbott that she had two weeks' detention for disturbing everyone's sleep without reason and inform her she was swapping beds with Megan Jones from the other First Year Girls' Dorm room. Hannah wailed and begged her not to do this but Pomona said that she obviously needed to learn not to put her own self interests over everyone else's well being and this was the only way anyone could see to teach her that lesson.

One thing Hannah Abbott's ego would never let her accept was that Sue actually regarded Megan to be a better friend than Hannah. Megan had only known Sue for a fraction as long as Hannah had but knew far more about her because she'd cared enough to listen and pay attention to what Sue was saying…. She was Neville's friend as well as Sue's because she knew that Sue cared and worried about him and she'd taken the time to discover, just as Sue had, that there was far more to Neville Longbottom than most people, even Neville himself up until a day or so ago, believed and she liked what she found out about him. She was also open minded and ready, willing and able to put the effort into learning how to do things for herself, rather than sit around gossiping and expect everything to be given to her. And one more key factor was that Megan was far less up herself than Hannah Abbott and would fit into a group like their's much better than Hannah ever would.

A mirror call after breakfast had the goblins start preparing another one of their trunks, because if everything went as planned they would be adding Megan into their group properly that night. This would give them another group of three to progress at their own rate while Harry, Hermione and Luna forged ahead. They didn't rub anyone's nose in it, but those three were scary brilliant and there was no way that Sue or Neville could keep up with them. Sue had discussed this with Harry, Hermione, Luna and Neville last night and everyone agreed that this would work better if someone else was added to even out the group. The others were willing to trust her and Neville's decision about who they'd like to add, but that was never going to be Hannah Abbott because she'd already driven them up the wall with her attitude and behaviour, Hermione hadn't been entirely joking when she threatened to hex first and ask questions later.

* * *

None of them expected Snape to change his behaviour, because they knew he'd be banking on Dumbledore to keep bailing him out, so Harry had the goblin recording crystal taking everything in as soon as he entered the Potions class that the Gryffindor and Slytherin First Years had for first class. Sure enough, Snape started spouting a pile of crap about him being a celebrity and asking him, and him alone very advanced questions. Harry answered every question correctly and then came back at him. "Why would being a celebrity, as you call me, equate to my being a potions prodigy when I wasn't even raised in the Magical world Professor Snape? And how is asking one student, and one student _only_, in their very first class at Hogwarts questions about NEWT level potions at all fair? From what I've read, the Draught of Living Death is regarded to be a very difficult potion for the better Sixth Year students, and Wolfsbane, which you were referring to in another question, is another very advanced potion. No First Year Potions student would have known the answers to those questions without reading at least five years ahead, so why were you trying to trap me with them?"

Snape took fifty points from Gryffindor for his cheek and vanished his and Neville's potions at the end of the lesson, believing that they hadn't yet taken the samples to be graded, but Harry had already recorded them each filling, sealing and putting away what were meant to be duplicate vials of the potions to be graded independently so they had proof of what they'd made.

They'd had four potions classes by the time the meeting with the Hogwarts Board, Wizarding Examination Authority, St Mungo's and DMLE (St Mungo's and the DMLE had a stake in this because they weren't getting enough qualified applicants for Healer, Mediwitch and Auror positions as most would be applicants didn't have their Potions NEWTs, and half of those who did couldn't deliver potions at the level their scores indicated) was held, and they'd had a number of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students in different years recording all their classes and saving duplicate vials of their potions from their classes. These and their graded homework were all provided to their House Mistresses and Master to present as evidence at the meeting. Previous years' graded homework and exams and verified statements from previous students were also submitted.

While the fact that visibly good potions of students from other houses were being vanished for no good reason by the Potions master and visibly failed potions of Slytherin students received good grades wasn't accepted as definitive proof (though Harry and Neville's first potions supported the visible indications), the submitted potions were all graded markedly better by the WEA examiners than they had been by Snape, as were the homework and exams that were submitted as evidence. Then they went through the abuse of other students by both Snape and Slytherin students, deliberately turning a blind eye to Slytherins sabotaging other students' potions and wildly inappropriate awards and penalties of points according to what house the students were in and things kept looking progressively worse for Snape and Dumbledore.

When one of the examiners noted that very few students other than the Slytherins had the recommended companion texts for Potions and asked why they had been removed from the recommended book lists after he became the Potions Master, Snape tried to say that it wasn't his responsibility to spoon feed the students. Needless to say, he wasn't at all happy when Minerva produced copies of recommended book lists she'd taken from the Slytherin Common Room that had those texts listed, which led into discussions about the fact that the recordings clearly showed him assisting the Slytherins in his classes while refusing to answer questions from anyone else. By the end of the meeting, even Snape and Dumbledore accepted that there was no way that Snape would be keeping his job, and Dumbledore had worked out that there would be farther reaching ramifications than that.

The Hogwarts Board quickly organised a replacement for Snape and the new Potions Master started working the students harder to make up for years of substandard teaching. It was worse for the Fifth and Seventh Year students, because they only had a year to learn enough to get the grades they needed in their OWLs and NEWTs. The Sixth and Seventh Year Potions classes had also gotten larger, because the ones who Snape had refused to accept into his NEWT level Potions classes were now being given a chance to try and earn their NEWTs in Potions.

Septima Vector took over as Slytherin's House Mistress and she worked with Minerva, Pomona and Filius to correct the prevalent bullying and bad behaviour by the older Slytherins, as well as those from the other houses who believed that it was their right to do this. Dumbledore was still trying to stop any changes to the way Hogwarts was run of course but one of the outcomes of the meeting which saw Snape fired was a ruling from the Hogwarts Board that a majority vote of the House Mistresses and Master was now enough to authorise any punishment for students, up to and including expulsion, no matter how much the Headmaster tried to block it. _Any_ of the House Mistresses and Master could also call in the DMLE now without seeking approval if they had reason to believe that criminal activity was occurring. These were the result of Dumbledore's repeated refusal to deal with Snape or the problems at Hogwarts.

Even without Snape, there were other serious issues with the education at Hogwarts, like the pathetic and creepy Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher Quirrell, the ghost who kept harping on about some of the Goblin Rebellions and didn't cover anything else in History of Magic, the dangerously old and faulty brooms that they had to learn to fly on, the fact that the fake Sybil Trelawney was teaching Divination and the fact that they'd had a bitter and twisted would be child abusing Squib as the school's caretaker for decades. And this was what Magical Britain believed was the best magic school in the world?

* * *

Harry, Hermione and Luna were just going through the motions in their classes, because their real studying and tuition was being done in the trunks, including the non-magical subjects. Hermione and Harry already had her A-Levels, so they started their university courses and tutored Luna and the others in their Secondary School topics. Luna, Sue, Neville and Megan had all been home schooled in non-magical primary school subjects and Luna and Sue had taken their Eleven-Plus before they started at Hogwarts, while Neville and Megan took their's before the end of September.

They also had Harry's Aunt Petunia and Dudley studying with them. Dudley's attitude had changed markedly the day Harry set that snake on Aunt Marge, because what he'd seen had opened his eyes to the way his Daddy really was and he realised that he didn't actually dislike Harry, he'd just been acting that way because that was what Daddy wanted. He certainly didn't like doing Harry's chores, but when he stopped to think about it he didn't think Harry did either, and it wasn't really fair to make Harry do everything.

When he saw that his Daddy didn't care about anyone but himself, Dudley started thinking about what Mummy had told him, mainly since they had that fight about the money Daddy stole from Harry but also how Mummy told him that if he didn't do his homework and make an effort to learn at school, he'd be stuck being a cleaner or working in a shop all his life which was sad, because she knew he could make her proud if he wanted to.

He hadn't liked being compared to Harry before, but now that he wasn't trying to be like Daddy and ignore Harry as a Freak, he could see how other grown ups listened to Harry and his friends and he dug out those newspaper articles Mummy had been hiding about Harry and his friend Jean and really read them. No-one could say that anyone had handed anything to Harry, he'd always worked hard and now people were listening to him because he'd made something of himself as they said in those articles. After looking at all of this, Dudley had a revelation, he wanted to make Mummy proud of him, he wanted to be more like Harry, so he dug out his school books and tried to make up for sitting on his duff all through Primary school.

Harry was a big help but Dudley was worried about falling back when Harry went off to school in Scotland, so Harry talked to his Uncle Gringott and the next day a new wardrobe appeared in Dudley's bedroom in the new cottage. Harry explained that one side of the wardrobe would only open for someone with Evans blood like Mummy, Harry and him, and when they went inside it was like another house. Harry explained that it was like the trunks he, Hermione, Luna and Sue were taking to Hogwarts, it was expanded inside and had everything he needed, plus time was sped up inside so he could do eleven hours' study inside for every hour that went by outside and it was linked to Harry's trunk so Dudley could talk to him when he needed help, or just wanted to talk.

Dudley Evans who went to Stonewall High was nothing like Dudley Dursley, he was hard working, made an effort to be polite and stood up to bullies rather than being one. Yes, Dudley Evans' mother was proud of him and Harry Potter liked his new cousin. One of Dudley Evans' prized possessions was the copy of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe that Hermione had gotten him as a belated birthday present, explaining that the House Harry was in at Hogwarts was symbolised by a Lion.

* * *

Petunia saw how much Dudley was improving as he worked with Harry and the others and started thinking about her and Dudley's future. There was little doubt that Vernon would be caught out when they audited the books at Gunnings, because he was too stupid and greedy to keep his fingers out of the till, and there would be no alimony or child support if he was in prison. She had been planning to go to business school or university when she married Vernon but he insisted that it wasn't right for a married woman to do that sort of thing, that a wife's place was in the home, raising their family. Well she didn't have to worry about Vernon Dursley's views on the subject any more and she would quite likely need to be able to support herself and Dudley soon, so she enrolled herself in business management courses at a prominent local business school.

Petunia had discussed this with Harry beforehand and he agreed to help her with her studies so that she did as well as she could, he also promised to use his majority holding in the company to do what he could to get her a job at Gunnings afterwards. Neither of them expected Vernon to be at Gunnings by the time she finished her courses, and Petunia was both the granddaughter of the man who started the company and the daughter of the man who built it up to what it was today, so they both thought that it would be quite fitting for the granddaughter of Herbert Gunning to work for the company he founded if she could make the grade.

Recent revelations had been enough to make her realise that Vernon's comments about her being the one who should have inherited Gunnings because she was the founder's granddaughter and Lily was just the result of her father screwing the nurse he hired to look after her after her mother died had just been an attempt to make her claim everything, so he would have been able to take control of it as her husband. When she was old enough, her father had told her the true story of how Rosie Jones, the young nurse he brought in to look after his darling daughter after her mother died in childbirth, had come to be her step mother. Almost a year after Rosie came into the household, after they'd put her to bed on her first birthday, her father had broken down when he no longer had to keep up a brave face for her, because it was also the anniversary of his beloved wife's death and Rosie was comforting him.

Her father assured her that nothing had happened that night but they had grown closer as Rosie encouraged him to express his grief and he discovered that he had feelings for her, this had ended up with her father going to bed with a woman for the first time in two years and Lily being conceived, so they married and Rosie became her stepmum. When she thought about it, she knew that Mum had never favoured Lily over her, she'd loved both of them the same and it was mainly her jealousy over Lily being so pretty and brilliant and having magic, egged on by that Snape creature's taunting her and the Headmaster's refusal to even consider allowing her to go to Hogwarts, that had driven a wedge between the two sisters. Then she stupidly fell for the dubious charms of the salesman Vernon Dursley, who she could now see had planned from the start to snare the granddaughter of the founder of the company with the aim of taking over the company when her father moved on, and he'd had enough rat cunning to see her resentment of Lily's beauty, intelligence and magic so he prodded at that until it turned into something like hatred and made up that nasty story about her father betraying the memory of her mother to try and make her lash out and grab everything when her father died.

* * *

It was actually the fact that Harry had been bullied at Primary school because of Dudley and Vernon so he decided to be known as _Henry_ Potter at the selective school, and the newspapers using black and white pictures that had prevented anyone from the Magical world recognising that the newspaper articles about one of the selective school in London's two child prodigies who'd suddenly come out of nowhere referred to their very own _Harry_ Potter. Very few people in the Magical world connected Harry Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived, with Duke Henry James Potter, and they weren't the types who'd look at the Muggle newspapers, so Henry Potter was to all intents and purposes invisible to the Magical world.

For that matter, Hermione had been bullied and taunted about her unusual name and being a bookworm in Infants and Primary school too, so her parents had allowed her to use her middle name of Jean when she went to the selective school to let her start over and get away from all that. That meant that she was called Jean in the articles and no-one made any connection between Jean Granger in that world and Hermione Granger who went to Hogwarts. Therefore their being known as child prodigies in the Muggle world was hidden from the Magical world so they'd have little trouble escaping to the Muggle world if they had to, but they wanted the others, Luna especially, to have the same option so they were doing what they could to get them caught up.

* * *

As they got closer to Halloween, or Samhain for those who held to the Druid festivals, Harry could tell that Dumbledore was up to something, because the old bastard _had_ to know how painful being reminded of his parents' murders was for Harry, but he made a big thing of announcing that there would be a feast to commemorate the ten year anniversary of Harry's defeat of Lord Voldemort, and he was looking straight at Harry when he made a point of saying that attendance at the feast was _mandatory_ for all students.

He'd apparently decided that he had a use for the walking stomach after all though, because for all Molly Weasley's threats to withdraw her little Ronnikins from Hogwarts if he wasn't resorted into Gryffindor, he returned even though Myrddin refused to resort him, so he remained in Slytherin. Hufflepuff and Slytherin had Charms as the last class on Halloween, and Ronnikins (who'd always scraped in at the last second if he wasn't late) had made a point of getting there early enough to get a seat right behind where Hermione and Luna were sitting. After sitting there like a lump most of the way through the class, he suddenly started mangling the incantation painfully and waving his wand about like he was conducting the Philharmonic Orchestra playing a complex and manic piece of music. His stupidity was infuriating, so Hermione was only half acting when she snapped at him. "Stop that before you put someone's eye out! Your wand shouldn't move more than a foot, and the incantation is Wingardium LeviOsa, not Wiggardum LevoSAR!"

A monitoring mirror was feeding all this to Harry, so he sent a whispered warning to expect an altercation of some sort once they left the classroom. He had to chuckle at the "Well, _Duh_!" she sent back.

Sure enough, as soon as he saw the girls coming out of the Charms classroom, the Weasel pretended not to know she was there and launched into a ridiculous and vindictive spiel about how infuriatingly mental she was and speculating about what she was giving Potter to let her to hang around him like a bad smell like she did. Malfoy and the rest of the cadre of Slytherins the Weasel was hanging around with laughed uproariously at this feeble attempt and Hermione played her part by barging through their group and running off to the girls' loo at the other end of the corridor in tears. One thing that she found very suspicious was the fact that she felt a number of them slapping her on the back as she pushed her way through them, though Harry thought the fact that the Weasel appeared to be being accepted by the group of Slytherins he left with was even more suspicious.

Proof that this was all planned was made apparent by the fact that they barely had enough time to get to their dorms, drop their book bags, change robes and hurry to the Great Hall before the feast was scheduled to begin. Obviously the puppet master didn't want to take the risk of his target wandering off before the final act.

They were scarcely fifteen minutes into the feast when the the main doors burst open and the turban wearing stutterer who was supposed to teach them Defence Against the Dark Arts rushed in, shouting. "Troll. In the Dungeon. I thought you should know." Before collapsing on the floor in the most obviously fake faint that Harry had ever seen. It was only missing the back of the hand held to the forehead, head thrown back and a hooped skirt to be a stereotypical Southern Belle's swoon.

Dumbledore leapt to his feet in a flash and bellowed for the prefects to escort their houses to their common rooms but Minerva was on her feet almost as fast and drowned him out with an amplified. "_**Stay right where you are! No one is to go anywhere!**_"

She kept the Sonorous going as she turned on the old bastard. "_**Are y**__**e**__** trying t' kill at least half of our students, or are y**__**e**__** just demented **__**ye daft old git**__**? What do y**__**e**__** think you're doing, sending the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins to the dungeons, where y**__**e**__** were just told a TROLL was, with no more than their house prefects t' protect 'em?**_"

Harry and Luna's enjoyment of the show Auntie Minnie was putting on was abruptly cut off at that moment, because they received a spike of terror over their link from Hermione and Harry sent a mental message to Myrddin to have Hogwarts lock down the Great Hall as they both activated the portkeys to take them to Hermione. The sight that met them when they arrived made her terror quite understandable, because Hermione was desperately trying to get out of the way of the monstrous club that the fully grown Mountain Troll she was facing was trying to hit her with. Hedwig, Crookshanks, Bastet and Mafdet were with her, but they couldn't do much against the troll in the confines of the toilets because Hedwig didn't have room to transform and the Mngwas were only half grown so they couldn't do more than slow it down.

The sudden appearance of two more little figures made the troll freeze, only for a moment but that was all the time Harry needed. The Sword of Gryffindor appeared in his hands and extended to a full bastard sword as he leapt at the troll with a scream of defiance. He effectively finished both the troll and the battle with one strike that cut off off the paw holding the club and the troll's head, but he swung back as he landed and cut its legs out from under it. Luna cast a shield over her and Hermione when she arrived and looking straight at the invisible Efa, who'd been shadowing Hermione since she ran off from the Charms classroom, asked her to fetch Auntie Ami and her Aurors. Harry was enraged that someone would set up Hermione, or any of them, to face something like this and in less than a minute the troll had been reduced to rather small dismembered body parts spread all over the toilet. Hermione and Luna were the only things in there that weren't covered in troll blood, thanks to Luna's shield.

Harry had calmed down by the time Amelia arrived with the Aurors and they'd discovered that the purpose of the slaps on the back Hermione received as she pushed through the group was affixing numerous troll lures to her, so this had most definitely been planned. They didn't know for sure that an attack on one of them was the original reason for bringing a troll into the castle, but the setup in Charms class and afterwards had definitely been meant to get Hermione separated and covered with troll lures to bring the troll to her.

Amelia had to laugh when she arrived to find the three of them chatting away in the girls' toilet, unharmed but surrounded by troll blood and bits, but that laughter dried up when they filled her in on the story. She and her Aurors confirmed the fact that Hermione had been covered in troll lures and her expression only got grimmer when Lady Helena arrived to tell them that the Headmaster had been aware that a troll was brought into the castle and did nothing about it.

Her smile returned when Harry shared his plan on how to move forward with this, but it was disturbing to see the grim smile on the ghost's face as she told them that Lady Hogwarts was in full agreement with Lord Gryffindor-Slytherin's plan and she would unseal the Great Hall when they arrived.

Everyone in the Great Hall jumped and a good number of them screamed when the doors that no-one had been able to open burst open again and Harry stalked in, covered from head to toe in troll blood with a rather large and bloody sword resting on his shoulder. He called out "The troll isn't in the dungeon any more, but don't worry, that's the biggest piece of it left." as he threw the troll's head at Quirrell.

Or that was what he _appeared_ to be doing at least. He'd waited until Quirrell was directly in line between him and Dumbledore and the troll's head sailed straight over Quirrell to land on the High Table in front of Dumbledore, splattering him with troll blood. Then Harry spun around, pointing the bloody sword at the Weasel as he sat looking smug in the middle of the group who'd been with him outside the Charms classroom and spoke again. "Weasley played a big part in this Madam Bones, and if you check the rest of them I'll bet that you find signs of those troll lures that your Aurors found on Hermione."

Harry's third target was Quirrell, who was suddenly sitting up looking wide awake and worried. The bloody sword swung back to point at him and Harry added. "And _he_ burst in here, shouting about a troll in the dungeon before doing a very bad job of pretending to faint, so I'm sure he had something to do with it as well… And you heard what Lady Helena told us."

Amelia nodded grimly. "I did indeed Duke Potter!" With that she signalled her Aurors to check the group of Slytherins for traces of the troll lures as Harry suggested and arrest Quirrell. Dumbledore started blustering and telling them that they couldn't do this so Harry spun back to the Slytherin table, pointing the bloody sword at Blaise Zabini, who'd been bright enough to steer clear of the group involved in setting up Hermione. "Heir Zabini, would you be so kind as to explain to the Headmaster what the penalty for being involved in attempts on the life of the Head or Heir of a Noble and Most Ancient House or their betrothed under the Druid Laws of Magical Britain is, please?"

Zabini gave him a nod of appreciation for a game well played and the unexpected showmanship as he turned to Dumbledore with a grim and superior smile. "Headmaster, I am surprised that you, who have been the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot for well over forty years, do not understand the laws of Magical Britain. What Duke Potter is referring to is the incontestable Druid Law that states that the mandatory punishment for anyone involved in attempts on the lives of the Heads and Heirs of Noble and Most Ancient Houses and their betrothed is _Death! _If Duke Potter is correct and someone indeed tagged Lady Hermione with troll lures when a troll was set loose inside the castle, this was irrefutably an attempt to kill her. He would not have brought up the law at this juncture unless it applied to Lady Hermione, so anyone who had any part in this will automatically receive the death sentence."

Harry bowed to him. "Thank you Heir Zabini."

Dumbledore flushed with anger when Amelia also nodded to Zabini in appreciation. "Yes, thank you Heir Zabini, it is heartening to find that someone here has a proper understanding of the laws of Magical Britain, even though the ones who should apparently do not."

She turned back to Dumbledore. "As Heir Zabini has summarised so well for us, we not only have the right, we have the _duty_ to question any and all parties who may have had a part in this plot to kill Lady Hermione Headmaster, so unless you want to answer our questions in our interrogation rooms at the Ministry instead of here, I would suggest that you do not attempt to hinder us in carrying out our duties."

Albus couldn't understand how things had gone so badly since Harry Potter came back to their world, but he could see that Bones was itching to get him into a position where she was in control, so he hastened to reply. "No. I will of course be happy to assist the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in their Inquiries Madam Bones."

She nodded grimly. "Good. The first question is…. Why did you ignore the notification from the wards that a dangerous creature had entered the castle?"

"What? I can assure you that I did no such thing Madam Bones!"

"No?" She raised her voice. "Lady Helena? May I beg your assistance please?"

The Grey Lady wafted into the Great Hall a few minutes later. "Yes Madam Bones, how may I assist you?"

"Thank you for coming Lady Helena, I apologise for imposing on you, but could you repeat what you advised us in the toilets where Duke Potter dealt with the troll, please?"

"It is no imposition Madam Bones, and as for your request, I passed on the advice from Lady Hogwarts that Professor Dumbledore had been notified that a troll had entered the castle."

Dumbledore went white and tried to think of a way out of this, but all he could come up with was. "I do apologise Madam Bones. Now that the Grey Lady mentions it, I do recall registering something from the wards earlier but I was in the middle of trying to organise the feast and my other duties and it slipped my mind."

His lips thinned in anger when she replied with. "You obviously need to rethink your priorities if you are ignoring warnings from Hogwarts' wards because you are too busy organising a feast that was a affront to the memory of the guest of honour's parents Headmaster."

With that she nodded politely to Harry and signalled the Aurors to bring Quirrell and the others who were to be questioned as she stalked out of the Great Hall. Harry could see Dumbledore look calculatingly at the Weasel and realised that he was planning to try and cover his tracks so he quickly held up the Sword of Gryffindor and cast a non-verbal wandless scourgify over it to make it sparkle and gleam in all its glory so it caught the eye before he sent it back to the other realm in an attempt to distract the old bastard. Unfortunately, as he found out later, over a century of practice, nearly half of that with the Elder Wand, had made Dumbledore unbelievably fast at casting the obliviation charm, so Weasley had lost all memory of the few weeks by the time he walked out of the Great Hall.

**AN: To answer the comments I expect will be coming, the Sword of Gryffindor is an enchanted weapon, so it is magically lightened and kept razor sharp. That is why a boy who is physically a very fit thirteen has no trouble wielding it and it can cut through a full grown Mountain Troll.**


	4. Bad Moon Rising

**Usual disclaimer, no rights to anything from JKR's stories.**

Images of what the toilet looked like after Harry finished with the troll somehow got around the castle by breakfast the next day, and that had the unexpected benefit of the brighter ones at least deciding to steer clear of anyone in their group, because they didn't want the boy who could do _that_ thinking that they were threatening one of his friends.

Amelia was furious when she discovered that the central figure in the plot to set up Hermione Granger as a target for the troll had had all his memories of the last few weeks wiped out, all the more so when the mind healers reported that there were no traces of the compulsion charms the rest of the thugs had on them, or any sign that they'd been removed. This meant that the one that the others had all identified as roping them into helping with the plot _hadn't_ been compelled to set the girl up to die. While they had to let the others go because of the compulsion charms, the law was clear on Ronald Weasley, the boy had to die, and after a review of his history and other memories Amelia believed that it was actually in their world's best interests for this to happen before he did anything worse.

He may only be twelve years old, but his belief that anything and everything that would benefit Ronald Weasley was completely justifiable was so entrenched that he would, and already had, agreed to more than a few in-conscionable acts without a qualm. This latest attempt to set up a girl who'd hardly had any interactions with him and hadn't done anything to him to die was just the latest example of that, and even though he couldn't remember anything about it, when he was told that he was involved in trying to have the girl killed he'd just shrugged and said that the Mudblood deserved it because she'd laughed at him on the way to Hogwarts.

Amelia shuddered as she considered the boy because he was just like Peter Pettigrew, they were affronted if anyone actually expected them to _do_ anything to earn the wealth, fame and respect they believed was their's by right. In their eyes, if others were were rich and well known and respected, they should be too, and anyone who didn't give them respect or share the wealth and fame they'd been given….. Well they deserved what happened to them. She couldn't help wonder whether Pettigrew's mother had been like Molly Weasley, because she knew that the worst parts of the Weasley boys came from their mother.…

The fact that the Weasleys' two eldest had managed to turn out to be good men could be put down to the fact that Arthur had more time to be involved in their upbringing when they were little and they'd tried to get as much time with him as they could when they were older. By the time the twins arrived, Arthur was trying to get any extra paid work he could around the Ministry to make ends meet, but Bill and Charlie loved their father and went to him whenever he was home. She knew more about those two because they'd respectfully come to her, as the one person their father trusted and respected, before they left Hogwarts and asked if she could help them find jobs that would get them out of their mother's reach, and as their sponsor, their letters to their father had come through the Bones' account manager when they first moved overseas to work for parts of Gringotts. Molly Prewett had been known as the Harlot of Hogwarts for good reason when she was there and Amelia knew from her informants in low places that she went back to her old tricks after Charlie was born to get the things she wanted, because by then she'd worked out that Arthur Weasley wasn't going to be the ticket to fame and fortune she thought he'd be when she stole him from his betrothed.

Amelia didn't want to hurt Arthur by saying it, but she'd always wondered about the parentage of their children other than Bill and Charlie, because they were the only ones who reminded her of the Arthur Weasley she'd known at Hogwarts….. and they'd had to take inheritance tests to prove who they were before they were employed by Gringotts because Gringotts wanted to know who they let inside. It had been rather a surprise to discover that Charlus Prewett Weasley was actually _Baron_ Charlus Prewett Weasley, Head of the Junior Noble and Ancient House of Prewett, because as far as they knew, Arthur wasn't aware that their marriage contract had specified that their children would alternate between the Weasley and Prewett lines. That was why Charlie became Heir to the House of Prewett when his uncles Fabian and Gideon died in 1981, and Lord Prewett when he came of age at fourteen under the Druid Law caveats for the Heads of Ancient Houses and Families (it was eleven for the Heads of Most Ancient Houses and Families).

They had decided to leave the Prewett and Weasley voting Proxies with Dumbledore for the moment, because there was no indication that Arthur knew that he was Laird Arthurus Septimus Weasley, Head of the Most Ancient Druid Family of Weasley either, and they had their suspicions that he'd been manipulated by Dumbledore since he was at Hogwarts. The fact that Arthur had never informed Bill that he was Heir to the Weasley Druid Family or made any attempt to prepare him for when he became the Head of Family added weight to that suspicion.

* * *

Quirrell was a more interesting, and chilling, case. When they examined him they discovered that he was actually possessed by the shade of Lord Voldemort. Amelia had the Unspeakables bind the shade into Quirrell's body while they questioned him, and when the body started to fail they sent it through the Veil of Death, because whatever Tom Riddle (which they discovered was his real name) and Albus Dumbledore believed, once a soul was in Death's realm it didn't escape unless Death allowed it to.

Dumbledore was told that Voldemort's shade had died with Quirrell, but he kept insisting that there was only one way to stop Voldemort coming back… without saying what that was of course…. because his plans and nebulous Greater Good needed that story to be believed.

The DMLE and Department of Mysteries used what they'd learned from Quirrellmort (as one Muggleborn Unspeakable tagged the creature) to begin hunting down the soul anchors that Riddle had told them about so that they could send them through the Veil as well…. After all it couldn't hurt to give Death what mortals like Riddle had been trying to cheat him with, it may even induce him to be more merciful when their own times came to face him.

Quirrellmort's questioning also resulted in another visit to Hogwarts because he/it revealed that the reason he had returned to Hogwarts was the stories about the Philosopher's Stone being kept there this year. It hadn't taken much effort to get confirmation that these stories were true, because Dumbledore had gotten him to set up one of the childishly simple 'protections' for the stone. He told them that he'd realised that Dumbledore had never removed the portal he'd created to allow the troll he used for his part of the stone's 'protections' to be brought into the castle, so he'd used it to bring another troll in to create a diversion that would allow him to get the stone and restore himself before Quirrell's body failed.

Amelia turned up at Hogwarts unannounced with a squad of her best Aurors, along with Saul Croaker and his best Unspeakables, and gave Dumbledore the choice of taking them to the stone or having them blast their way through all the protections to get it themselves, and either way that bloody Cerberus would be dead or sent back where it came from before they left. Finding out that Dumbledore had a simple stairway leading straight from his personal chambers to the chamber where the Stone was being held when there was a bloody _Cerberus_ sitting out where he'd all but invited a castle full of children to go take a look made her want to kill the old bastard. That was why she took great satisfaction in telling him that she would be _personally_ returning the Stone to Nicolas Flamel and telling him just what his good friend Albus Dumbledore had been doing with it when he all but demanded that she hand over the Stone so that he could return it to Nicolas. He also lost the Mirror of Ersid, because it was another dangerous and forbidden artefact that he'd been keeping in a school full of vulnerable children.

It was only the immunity from prosecution that he'd taunted her with that kept him from being sent to Azkaban for this, but unfortunately that also prevented her from publicly outing him for everything he'd done and the deaf, dumb and blind sheep who made up most of Magical Britain still looked up to the _Great_ Albus Dumbledore too much to topple him from his Chief Warlock's position so he retained that immunity.

* * *

It took Dumbledore a little while, but what he'd seen when Harry was trying to distract him finally clicked, and he summoned the boy to his office to demand that he return the Sword of Gryffindor, because it belonged to Hogwarts. Harry turned to Minerva, who Dumbledore had failed to get rid of, and asked. "Is that correct Professor McGonagall? Do the Heirlooms of the Founders all belong to Hogwarts rather than their Heirs?"

She gave Dumbledore a dismissive glance. "No Mister Potter, the Founders' Heirlooms most certainly do _not_ belong to Hogwarts…. but could you explain your comment about the Founders' Heirs please?"

"It was something I read in one of the books about the Magical world Professor. According to the the ones who wrote the book, the Heirs to a House or Family can call its Family Heirlooms to them when necessary. The book said that the farther you are from the line of succession, the greater your need has to be to call the Heirloom to you, but the Gryffindor Family Magic must have decided that my blood and need were sufficient to merit giving me the Sword of Gryffindor when I asked for something to deal with that troll. When the danger was over, the Sword went back to where it came from. Apparently all the Druid Houses and Families got Heirloom weapons from the Goblins, but the Sword of Gryffindor was one of the most famous of them."

Dumbledore tried again. "Harry, can you try and call the Sword now?"

Harry's eyes flashed dangerously. "Why? And why do you keep calling me Harry like you're friendly with me when you keep trying to protect the ones who are trying to hurt me and those I care about? I don't like you at the moment Headmaster and I _don't_ like people being familiar with me without my leave. The most informality I am prepared to allow from you is _Mister_ Potter Headmaster, and if you attempt to be overly familiar again I will be instructing my solicitors to seek the maximum possible damages from you!"

"As for your question… No. I sense that you are going to try and steal the Sword of Gryffindor for yourself but it is where it is meant to be, waiting for someone with the right blood and need to call for it."

With that he stood, looking for all the world like a Pureblood Lord as he brushed some unseen dirt or lint from his robes and said "If that is all Headmaster, I will bid you good day." before he left the room.

Minerva had to fight not to laugh at the expression on Dumbledore's face as she nodded to him and hurried after Harry. She hadn't seen the old fool so well put down in ages.

* * *

Dumbledore thought that he had the perfect solution for replacing Quirrell, as it would give him a competent DADA who would be too afraid to touch on anything dangerous because he would be decried as the dark beast he was. It would also get him his werewolf liaison back from where he'd been banished to ensure that he didn't jeopardise the Potter brat being brought up the way he wanted, and as both Weasleys had failed him, he could use Lupin as a pseudo uncle to guide Potter.

Turning Lupin's parents against him when he set him up to be bitten by Greyback had worked spectacularly well and he almost hadn't needed Pettigrew to spy on the scions of the Potter and Black lines, but in the end Pettigrew had proven quite useful. Directing the suspicion at the werewolf and then sending him away on a mission that he pretended to know nothing about had ensured that no-one looked twice at poor little Peter and while it hadn't worked out as he'd planned that night, it had worked out well enough. Pettigrew had brought Tom's wand to him and he'd used that to alter the brat's magical signature enough to ensure that he'd be matched to the brother wand that Ollivander had in his shop, as well as stopping any of the Potter elves or familiars finding him with his signature. Pettigrew had also done a good job of whispering in Molly Weasley's brood's ears at night to reinforce what she was teaching them through the day, and for a spineless flobberworm he'd actually proved quite useful. The only boys he couldn't get near were the oldest two, though the twins were difficult as well, and there had only been a few incidences where he'd had to cover up the evidence of the other things he'd done with the boys, all in all it had worked out quite well.

He'd had a bit of a turn when he discovered that Pettigrew had been discovered, captured and questioned, but from what his people in the DMLE told him, the steps he'd taken to cover his tracks had worked because they hadn't found any links to him when they questioned the worm, and they couldn't go back and ask him any more questions how as they'd pushed him through the Veil, so all's well that ends well. All the suspicion being centred on Pettigrew gave him the perfect opportunity to bring Lupin back into the Potter brat's life. Lupin was completely loyal to him and he could counter what Black told the boy about him, yes, Lupin was the perfect replacement for the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, if anyone questioned it he could point out that he attended at Hogwarts for seven years without issues, and Black's childish loyalty to his last living _Marauder_ friend would prevent the Board firing him. With that, he made arrangements to have Lupin get his mangy arse to Hogwarts with all possible speed, the tiresome weekly letters asking how the boy was doing worked to his advantage now as he didn't have to go looking for the werewolf, he just had to say that Harry needed him and he'd come running.

* * *

They'd held off on actioning Neville's threat against Malfoy on their first day at Hogwarts, because they first had to first research all probable causes for his parents staying in the state they were in for ten years and treatments to get them out of that state. Then they had to get his Grandmother Augusta into Gringotts and challenge her enough to get her to agree to be scanned and then cleared of compulsions and manipulations, and finally they needed to spirit Frank and Alice Longbottom out of St Mungo's, get them into the Time Chamber for long enough to heal them and then slip them back into St Mungo's. This was timed to occur the night before the Head Healer's quarterly inspection of the long term spell damage ward, which just so happened to coincide with the ten year anniversary of their being cursed into that state.

The ones who were paid to ensure that the Longbottoms remained in the state they'd been in for ten years were so bored with following the routine for so long that they didn't pay attention to them any more, so they missed the fact that they were actually potioning simulcrams of their patients while the real Longbottoms were being treated in a goblin time chamber, and Efa and Emyr were watching over them after they were slipped back into the ward to ensure that nothing was done to them before the Head Healer's inspection.

The Head Healer was in on what they were doing, so he scanned them and announced that they must have been hit with a specific spell that held them in thrall for ten years, because aside from the effects of being inactive for ten years they were fine. He made a show of calling Augusta in so that they could have a joyous reunion and then advised her to take them straight to a healing facility in the Swiss Alps he knew that specialised in getting patients who'd been kept inactive for years back to the best of health and back on their feet quickly, because this facility was the best in the Magical World for that. Before the Administrators could stop them or Dumbledore or anyone else could get there to interfere, Frank and Alice were flooed to Gringotts where they supposedly used the goblins' magical transport to send them to the Healing Facility in the Swiss Alps. They actually went into one of the more normal time chambers that operated on a ratio of around twenty one to one. They did have therapy to recover their health and fitness, but more importantly they were brought up to date on everything that had happened while they'd been incapacitated.

What Magical Britain didn't know was that their return was organised for the Wizengamot session where the Malfoys were called to answer the charges that Neville had made against them. They knew that there was no way of keeping Dumbledore out of that session, not with the Boy-Who-Lived and Dumbledore's backup Chosen-Child involved, and Malfoy would have made sure that all his fellow Death Eaters and Ministry toadies were there to try and swing the vote his way, but Frank, Sirius and Harry had a show planned that should manage to upset both sides.

* * *

When Dumbledore saw Sirius in the Black box, he got the session started as soon as there was a quorum to lock out any reinforcements that may still be coming. He already knew from bitter experience that Black's cousin Andromeda Tonks was a skilled player in the Wizengamot, so dealing with the less experienced Black was something he wanted to lock in.

When he tried to go straight into the scheduled items Augusta Longbottom called him to order and reminded him that he had to open the floor to new business first, he gritted his teeth and did so, because he knew that now that she'd raised it half of the Nobles would insist that they follow protocol. He wished he hadn't when the first item of new business was Earl Francis John Longbottom reclaiming his seat as Head of the Senior Noble and Most Ancient Druid House of Longbottom and its Associated Houses. Dumbledore was worried when Longbottom stood to reclaim his seat, because the Head of the House had a stronger presence than a Regent, but then he reconsidered, because Augusta Longbottom had been a very strong player in the Wizengamot, especially as she'd seemed to have overcome some of the compulsions on her in recent months, so he was relieved when Longbottom revoked his mother's position of Regent of the House of Longbottom. That relief vanished a moment later when he officially instated her as Steward of the House of Longbottom, because that gave the battleaxe back everything she'd had as Regent, and more.

As Longbottom joined his mother in the Longbottom Box, Dumbledore went to move into the scheduled items when Black stood. "Excuse me Chief Warlock, I have new business to raise here as well, otherwise I would have left this in the capable hands of the Steward of the House of Black… Even though her primary role here today is as Regent for the House of Potter..." He waved at the Potter box and Dumbledore almost swore as Tonks inclined her head at her cousin, how had he missed her before? (What he didn't know was that she'd made a show of spending some time going through her bag, so she was out of sight in the box.) "Very well Lord Black, what is your new business?"

"That is _Duke_ Black, or Your Grace Chief Warlock. As I know that you have been advised of this before, you would be wise to remember my proper form of address from now on!" Dumbledore wanted to put the fool in his place, but he bit his tongue.

"Be that as it may, my new business is something that I somehow forgot to do when I was previously working to remove the stain from the honour of the Most Noble and Most Ancient Druid House of Black…. Lucius Abraxus Malfoy! You have freely allowed yourself to become the marked slave of the illegitimate commoner Tom Marvolo Riddle, born out of wedlock to the Muggle Tom Riddle and the Squib Merope Gaunt and more commonly known by the false title of Lord Voldemort. It is an affront to the honour of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black for one of its daughters to be married to one who would stoop so low as to willingly become the slave of a common Muggleborn bastard like Riddle so I hereby call for the disillusion of the marriage of Narcissa Druella Black to Lucius Abraxus Malfoy and recall all titles, holdings, property, monies and other belongings given to Narcissa Druella Black as dowry and wedding gifts and any monies accrued from anything given as part of the dowry and wedding gifts.…."

There was a flash as Sirius' decree was accepted. Malfoy leapt up and cried out that he hadn't done so willingly, he'd been forced to under the imperious curse, but he shut up and sat down without another word when Sirius coldly challenged him to prove that under Veritaserum and with memories of the event. Once Malfoy had given up Sirius spoke again. "The title formally granted to Narcissa Druella Black is now granted to Nymphadora Andromeda Tonks, who has proven herself to be a worthy daughter of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black."

The flash this time was much smaller and he went on. "Narcissa Druella Black has stained the honour of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black by marrying Lucius Abraxus Malfoy, who willingly became the marked slave of the Common Muggleborn Bastard Tom Marvolo Riddle, who falsely styled himself Lord Voldemort, therefore I cast Narcissa Druella Black and her son, Draco Lucius Malfoy out of the Most Noble and Most Ancient Druid House of Black!" There was another flash and gasps from Narcissa and Draco in the gallery as they felt the loss of the Black magic.

Sirius grinned up at them. "Sorry about that Cissa, I hear that it's not a nice feeling to lose your family magic, but you shouldn't have shamed our house like that!"

He saw the Clerk of the Court about to make an announcement and grinned again, because there were going to be some very unhappy Death Eaters in the chamber soon. "The loss of its Noble title and one of its Minor titles has caused the House of Malfoy to revert to a Junior Minor House. As the House of Malfoy is now junior to other houses petitioning for seats on the Wizengamot, the House of Malfoy's Wizengamot seat has been forfeited to the Senior Minor House of Jones, Lucius Abraxus Malfoy, please vacate the Wizengamot seat as it is now the House of Jones' seat….. The first scheduled item for this session must be revised. This item related to the Most Noble and Most Ancient Druid House of Potter and Senior Noble and Most Ancient Druid House of Longbottom seeking damages for the Heir to the Junior Noble House of Malfoy's insults and threats against the Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter and the Heir to the Senior Noble and Most Ancient Druid House of Longbottom. However, as the Junior Noble House of Malfoy has now reverted to the Junior _Minor_ House of Malfoy, this item must be revised before it can be actioned… Does the Wizengamot authorise this?" There was a clear majority of lit wands raised so the item was opened for comment.

* * *

This thing had always been about humiliating the House of Malfoy by showing everyone their Heir's ignorance of proper Noble House etiquette, but Sirius had humiliated and cost them far more than any damages would. The biggest humiliation was giving Narcissa's title to the niece she reviled as a Half-blood so publicly. They were actually expecting to be advised that the item would have to be withdrawn, revised to show the House of Malfoy's proper status and then resubmitted, so they were caught out when the Clerk of the Court revised that on the fly and got the Wizengamot members' authorisation to continue. All the relevant information and witnesses were there though. Theo Nott had refused to be a witness for Malfoy because he wasn't about to get his house penalised for lying, so Malfoy only had Vince Crabbe and Greg Goyle on his side. Andi and Augusta decided to play nice and let those two off with no more than pointing out that they had no clue about what they were talking about.

Andi was less inclined to let her nephew off the hook though and pointed out that his status at the time was no more than Heir to a Junior Noble House, and a very new one at that seeing as the title had come with his mother's dowry. She also pointed out that, as Heir Longbottom had stated, Lady Malfoy would have made every effort to ensure that her son understood the rules of etiquette and hierarchy of the Noble Houses, so he should have known what a serious faux pas approaching Duke Potter was, even if he believed that he was only the Heir to the House of Potter. Anyone who had done their homework, as the Heir to a Noble House should have, would have known that the group that he approached so arrogantly represented the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter…. the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black but he could possibly be excused not knowing about that... The Senior Noble and Most Ancient Houses of Longbottom and Bones, the Junior Noble and Ancient House of Lovegood and the Most Ancient Druid House of Cathbad, all of which were well above his house. He could be excused not knowing that Lady Hermione had a title, but the deference Duke Potter and Baron Longbottom showed her and her name would have been clues to anyone paying attention.

It was reiterated that Heir Longbottom had explained the situation to both Duke Potter and Heir Malfoy, going so far as to request leniency for the Malfoy Heir because he obviously hadn't been properly educated, but the Malfoy Heir then escalated the matter by making threats against both Duke Potter and Heir Longbottom, at which time Heir Longbottom advised that the Houses of Potter and Longbottom would be seeking damages from the House of Malfoy, and why.

In the end Andi and Augusta agreed to half the damages they were going to hit them with as a Noble House due to their reduced circumstances, so the House of Malfoy had to pay Fifty Thousand Galleons, plus everything the House of Black took back, of course.

* * *

Lucius Malfoy was furious, because not only had the House of Malfoy lost face and status, to keep Malfoy House and his most profitable business he'd been forced to sell off nearly everything else he owned to repay the dowry and wedding gifts and pay those damages. There was no way to keep the Acromantula Silk Farm which was one of his favourite status symbols without losing everything else so that had had to go, and he got far less than it was worth for it because there was only one party interested in it, he didn't even know who bought it because they had used Baroness Zabini to broker the deal. Much of the Malfoy fortune had gone to financing the Dark Lord in the war and buying his freedom after the war, which meant that the Malfoys had been relying on what they got with Narcissa's dowry and wedding gifts since the war and while he'd been building their fortune back up over the last ten years by buying up the seed property and businesses cheap after the war, the way Black had worded reclaiming Narcissa's dowry and wedding gifts meant that whatever wealth accrued from the dowry and wedding gifts was included in what was being reclaimed.

He had faith that they would regain their proper place when the Dark Lord returned but until then they would be greatly reduced, not Weasley poor Morgana forbid, but certainly hard pressed to pay the bribes required to keep Fudge and his ilk in line. The only saving grace in this mess was that those filthy creatures at Gringotts would not let anyone else know how far the House of Malfoy had fallen because confidentiality was one of their core tenets. He realised that he'd have to sell off his prized collection of dark objects that he'd…. acquired… over the past fifteen years too, he would have to keep track of where they went because some of them were extremely powerful, as well as valuable, but so long as he knew where they were he could take them back when the Malfoys had regained their proper station…..

Lucius lit up with glee as he realised that one of those objects could be used to hasten the Dark Lord's return. His master had left a diary with him, admonishing him to keep it safe because it was one of the objects which ensured he would return. Other things the Dark Lord had let slip indicated that this diary would be the simplest way for him to return, because he had coded his image and memories into it around the time that he opened his ancestor, the great Lord Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets. Apparently all his image stored in the diary needed to return was the soul of an innocent, and where better for it to find the soul of a suitable innocent than the place the diary was created? The thought that his own Heir was at Hogwarts crossed his mind briefly, but he dismissed it as he held his son to blame for his current misfortunes, if anything happened to him he could always sire another Heir, and this one was a serious disappointment anyway. He accepted that it would be difficult to get the diary into Hogwarts and the hands of the right child, but he was confident that he would find a way.

* * *

Harry was happy at first when he realised that Uncle Mooney was going to be the new Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher, but the way Lupin looked at Dumbledore as if to get permission before he approached Harry made him start shuffling through his memories leading up to that fateful Halloween. What Harry came up with wiped out any happiness at the thought of having _Uncle_ Mooney back in his life. For a start, the fact that he left on some mission for Dumbledore a couple of days before Harry's First Birthday, and the only response he could give when Sirius and Harry's parents argued that surely the mission could wait a couple of days so he could be there for Harry's First Birthday was that Albus hadn't said why it was urgent but he needed him to start searching for the packs straight away made it clear that he valued doing whatever Dumbledore told him to over family, which was what Sirius and Harry's parents had regarded him as.

That was why, when Remus Lupin had his master's permission and approached Harry to tell him that he was his parents' friend and introduce himself as Harry's Uncle Mooney, he was answered with. "Why?"

Lupin had no idea what he was asking at first, but Harry was quite happy to explain. "If you were such a good friend of my parents and you are my Uncle Mooney, why did you leave a couple of days before my First Birthday and why haven't you checked on me in over ten years?"

"We were in a war Harry, Albus needed me to find the packs in Europe and try and talk them out of siding with Voldemort…. And I did check on you, I wrote to Albus every week, that was how I knew you were happy, growing up with your family." Harry looked angrily at the girls and they were shaking their heads sadly.

"How long did it take you to find the packs, and how many did you talk out of supporting Voldemort?"

"It took me over two months to find the first pack, a month or a month and a half for the subsequent packs…. But unfortunately I didn't manage to talk any of them around."

"So waiting two more days as my parents and Uncle Padfoot begged you to so that you'd be there for my birthday wouldn't have made any difference, would it? Did you come back for my parents funeral and see whether I was okay after they were murdered on Halloween at least, or were we all forgotten by my parents' so called friend?"

"But Albus said it was important…." He gave up as he realised that he couldn't come up with anything that would be accepted for his leaving like that and went on to the other point. "I didn't hear about your parents' deaths until the news filtered down to the local papers where I was weeks later. I wrote to Albus but he told me that your parents had already been buried and Black was in Azkaban for betraying them and murdering Peter and a bunch of Muggles. He said that I could lead the Death Eaters to you if I visited you, and Albus needed me to make sure that the packs in Europe didn't take up with the other side. So I stayed away to keep you safe and happy with your family."

Everything on the table started to shake, and it was only Hermione, Luna and Hedwig's presence in his mind that allowed Harry to calm down. Eventually he looked up at the man. "Do you actually believe any of the shite you just came out with? For a start, by all accounts the news of what happened that night was reported all over the Magical World within a week. Secondly, Uncle Sirius never betrayed us, the formal Godfather ritual would have stopped him even if he was inclined to. The _Rat_ was the Death Eater Secret Keeper and the Headmaster knew that because the letters my parents left told us that he was the one who cast the fidelius charm on the cottage. The Headmaster somehow knew what had happened straight away because he sent Hagrid there with a Portkey to get me and take me to him before Uncle Sirius had a chance to react to the feeling that something was wrong... As you should know they performed the blood brother ritual while they were at Hogwarts. Uncle Sirius was too upset to fight Hagrid on taking me with him when he arrived so he gave Hagrid his bike so that I wouldn't be subjected to travelling by portkey at my age. He stupidly went after the Rat rather than sitting down and thinking things through and ran straight into a trap because somehow the Rat was ready for him when he caught up with him, which gave the Rat the chance to frame him for killing Mum, Dad, a dozen normal people and himself and disappear in his Animagus form. Uncle Sirius was still standing there laughing because he'd been outwitted by the stupid Rat when the Hitwzards arrived in record time, stunned him and threw him straight into Azkaban without a trial or even investigation on the Head of the DMLE, the Minister and the Headmaster's orders. I also find it hard to believe that you failed to see the reports of Uncle Sirius being cleared of all charges and the Death Eater Rat being thrown through the Veil of Death because that was widely reported a couple of months ago. And for your information I wasn't safe _or_ happy with my _family_, they only stopped starving me and locking me away in a cupboard when I started school because they didn't want anyone to find out, and they didn't stop beating me and working me like a slave until after I got my Hogwarts letter…."

He looked at _Uncle_ Mooney with disgust as he said. "You've made it quite clear that you have chosen Professor Dumbledore over me, my family and Uncle Sirius Professor Lupin, so I will make my position clear. I regard your actions since July Nineteen Eighty One at least as a betrayal of my parents, Sirius Black and myself and therefore have no wish to have anything to do with you outside of your being my teacher. As I have told the Headmaster, I will not require you to address me as Duke Potter or Your Grace as that would cause friction in the school setting we are in, however I will brook no unwanted familiarity from those who are not part of my friends or family so the most familiarity I will allow from you is Mister Potter. If you attempt any uninvited familiarity I will have my solicitors pursue damages from you. Do you understand?"

"What are you saying Harr…."

"_**Stop!**_ I will allow you this one warning only Professor Lupin! I repeat! I will brook no unwanted familiarity from you and the most familiarity I will allow is Mister Potter, if you attempt any further uninvited familiarity my solicitors will pursue damages from you. **Do. You. Understand?**"

He could see the wolf rising in Lupin but the man fought it down and nodded tersely. "Yes _Mister_ Potter, I understand!"

Harry nodded calmly. "Very good, now as we have nothing more to discuss, good day Professor Lupin."

Lupin bit out "Good day Mister Potter." and stalked off.

* * *

Once he'd left the Great Hall, Harry looked down at the mirror in his lap. "Did you get all of that?"

Sirius nodded unhappily. "I can't believe that he still swallows everything Dumbledore tells him and _does_ everything he tells him. Dumbledore obviously brought him back to tell you _his_ version of how everything happened and convince you that what I've told you is all lies. I'm worried that Dumbledore may decide to up the ante if Lupin can't get you to toe the line and follow him Harry. Are you sure that you and the girls are properly protected?"

"Yes Uncle Siri, we've got as much in place as we can to curtail the old goat molester's activities. The people have trained us in what we need to do to protect ourselves and we're more powerful than he is."

"But the Elder Wand makes him much stronger, are you sure you can resist him if he uses it on you?"

"Nooo, not _certain_, but I'm pretty sure there is something I can do about that."

"What do you mean?"

"The Elder Wand is a Peverell Heirloom, and who's the current Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Peverell?"

"You…. which makes you the true master of the Elder Wand!"

"Bingo!"

"But if he just loses it he'll know that someone's onto him and he'll be trying to find some other way to control people."

"True, and that's why I'm going to return it to him once the Elder Wand has accepted me as its true master. Once it's changed allegiance it will be nothing more than a mismatched wand for him, and it won't change back to him when it knows who its true master is, and that I'm more powerful than Dumbledore as well."

"That makes sense, when are you going to do it?"

"When he's sleeping I think, and I'll cast a compulsion on him when I do to make him ignore the fact that the Elder Wand feels different. That way he won't know what's happened unless he tries to use the true power of the wand."

Sirius laughed. "Oh, you're Lily's son alright, the rest of us wouldn't have thought up anything like that. You're certainly more Slytherin than anyone else there."

"Why thank you Unca Pafoo. That's the nicest thing anyone's said to me all day!"

They said their goodbyes with another laugh and Harry shut down the mirror.

Sirius wasn't at all surprised to hear that Harry neutered the Elder Wand for Dumbledore that night.


	5. Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts

**I've just found another, regrettably gone, writer who's stories I'm finding delightful, Harmonious Cannons.**

**Like Broomstick Flyer and a few other writers in other spaces who's stories I love, from the personality and _different_ humour that comes out of his writing, I'm sure that he is sorely missed by those who had the privilege of knowing him.**

**NB: I know that finding out that Petunia and Dudley have magic isn't a new concept, but it is IMHO a valid one. Lily was a powerful witch so her sister, or even half-sister as she is in this story, not having any magic seems unlikely.**

**Usual disclaimers, no rights to anything from JKR's stories.**

Dealing with Professor Lupin in class was painful for Harry, because he wouldn't let go of his childish hero worship of Albus Dumbledore and kept trying to convince Harry of the 'truth'. Whenever he asked Harry to stay back after class, Harry would ask if this was pertaining to his Defence Against the Dark Arts course work and either decline if he said "No", or have Neville stay with him if he said "Yes". Lupin always tried to insist that it was a private matter, which Harry would counter with the fact that he had the right to have a trusted witness to any meetings with the staff, and Lupin would hedge around the issue until he ended up admitting that it _wasn't_ about his course work, at which point Harry and Neville would leave.

This continued up until they broke for Christmas (or Yule for those who followed the Druid holidays), and ended up with Lupin being slapped with an injunction against speaking to Harry at all unless it directly related to the Defence Against the Dark Arts course work. Of course he listened to Dumbledore when the Goat Molester told him to ignore the injunction, which cost him more than he'd earned in the time he'd been teaching at Hogwarts. Minerva tried to talk to him and get it through to him that if he kept following Dumbledore blindly it would cost him everything, and when that happened Dumbledore would just abandon him and find a new patsy, but Lupin refused to believe that the great Albus Dumbledore would do anything like that.

* * *

There was a significant event about a month after Halloween, the Wizengamot trial of those who had been involved in the attempt to get Hermione killed by the troll. Molly Weasley had to be restrained and silenced when she started screaming at the Chief Witch (Dumbledore was forced to recuse himself because this had happened right under his nose and he had a vested interest in keeping details which may incriminate him quiet) when the other Slytherin students were found not guilty because their memories confirmed the evidence that they were under compulsion charms to perform their parts in the attack, and that they'd been roped into doing so by Ronald Weasley, but her little Ronnikins was found guilty on the basis of the fact that the DMLE and St Mungo's experts could find no evidence of any compulsion charms, or the removal thereof, his memories of the previous three weeks had been removed by parties unknown, presumably to cover up their own part in this (Amelia turned to look at Dumbledore when she said this), and the fact that his memories were the only ones removed confirmed that he had been more involved in organising this with some third party. His total lack of remorse when advised that he had been the central figure in organising to have an innocent girl killed by a troll was taken as confirmation of his deliberate involvement in this attempt to kill Lady Hermione Jean Granger, the Betrothed of Duke Henry James Potter, Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter and its Associated Houses. Therefore he was found guilty under Druid Law of attempting to kill the betrothed of the Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter and subjected to the mandatory punishment for this crime, death by being passed through the Veil of Death.

Molly Weasley sealed her own fate when her howler arrived while they were having breakfast in the Great Hall the next morning. Professor Flitwick had fears about what the unhinged witch would send after her son was put to death by the Wizengamot, so he tried to freeze the owl and the howler it carried before it could reach the Hufflepuff table where Hermione and Harry were sitting with the others in their group, but Dumbledore cast a shield to block his spell from reaching the owl. Harry had the same fears as Filius, so he cast a far stronger shield to stop owl and the howler about ten feet above the table and deflect anything from the howler upwards. The entire school was subjected to the vile insults and imprecations that Molly Weasley was screaming at Hermione and Harry before the howler exploded with enough force to damage the walls and ceiling of the Great Hall.

Harry calmly turned to Professor McGonagall and requested that she get the DMLE there as soon as possible to investigate this murderous attack, which would doubtless have killed and injured far more students than just Hermione and himself. Dumbledore of course tried to stop this but Filius forced him at wandpoint to hand over all of his wands then silenced him and stuck him to his throne while Pomona kept everyone else in the Great Hall under control (Her first step was jamming her wand into the back of Lupin's neck and whispering in his ear. "The same goes for you Wolf! Remove your wands and hand them to me, _very_ carefully!", before securing him the same way Filius had Dumbledore).

No-one was really surprised to see Amelia run in ahead of her Aurors and confirm that her niece and ward was unharmed before beginning the investigation. She looked as though she wanted kill Dumbledore where he sat after she saw the first of hundreds of memories taken from students and staff all over the Great Hall, but all she did at that point was to send Aurors to arrest Molly Weasley for the attempted murder of Heads and Heirs of Most Ancient Houses and their Betrothed, and authorising them to use as much force as they deemed necessary. Seeing those Aurors hug their own children before running out made it clear that Molly Weasley had better not try to resist at _all _if she wanted to survive. Once she'd seen enough memories to be sure of what had happened, she bowed to Filius and thanked him for his attempt to prevent this atrocity happening, then told Dumbledore that he'd be answering for blocking Professor Flitwick's efforts. Her face hardened after she bent down to listen to Harry as he touched her hand to get her attention. When she straightened, she added. "And you will _also_ be required to give an accounting for why you disabled the wards that prevented howlers from entering Hogwarts just before the end of the last school year Headmaster!"

An emergency Wizengamot session was called for that afternoon and it didn't take seeing more than a few of the memories of what happened in the Great Hall for half of the Wizengamot to be calling for Molly Weasley to be put to death like her son (many of the Wizengamot had children or relatives who could well have been killed or injured in that blast meant for Duke Potter and his betrothed)... But Amelia and the rest of the family were frustrated that the fools were still so much in awe of Dumbledore that they refused to believe what they saw with their own eyes, that if wasn't for the shield that someone else had cast (some saw Harry Potter doing it, but decided to keep quiet as that was obviously something Madam Bones didn't want to advertise and they didn't want to cross the angry and powerful witch) to protect the occupants of the Great Hall, Dumbledore's actions would have caused untold deaths and injuries, so the old bastard got off scot free, _again_!

After losing one son and his wife and having another expelled and banned from ever using magic in Britain because of their attacks on Harry Potter, Arthur Weasley feared for the rest of his family, so he quickly accepted an offer for the Burrow made by Xeno Lovegood and taking Percy, the twins and Ginny, relocated the family to Cairo in Egypt, where his eldest (supposedly) had found him a job with a local Magical trading company. He didn't know that with his wife gone, the family would have been in a less perilous position in Britain, but the fact was they could live far better on the money he got in Egypt and his children would be better off growing up away from the traditional Pureblood attitudes of Magical Britain anyway. While not Hogwarts, the local magic school for ex-pats' children gave the youngest four a sound education, and as he was outside Britain Percy could take up magic again. It was another shock for Arthur to find out that he was the Laird and Head of a Most Ancient Druid Family when he was convinced to abdicate in Bill's favour, because Bill could keep the Weasley Druid Family extant in Magical Britain as he was employed by Gringotts and officially based in London.

As soon as Bill took over as Head of the Druid Family of Weasley, he and Charlie revoked the Weasley and Prewett proxies that Dumbledore held and allocated them to the Steward of the House of Longbottom.

Bill was on-board with what Harry Potter and the Family were doing to give the remaining Weasleys a chance to throw off the conditioning of Magical Britain and lead a better life, and he would be forever grateful to them for this. He'd seen the memories taken from Ron and his mother and had been thoroughly disgusted by what he saw. He just hoped that without his mother's corrupting influence his younger siblings could become decent people and his father could become the man he once was again.

* * *

They had to laugh at the announcement that the Malfoy Yule Ball would be held as per usual, because even though they were almost broke the Malfoys had to put on a show of wealth to avoid losing face and supporters. The fact that most of their usual guests chose to defect to the Longbottoms' Yule Ball because most of Magical Britain's high society wanted to check out the recently returned Lord and Lady Longbottom and try to solicit alliances and agreements from Lord Longbottom was a major slap in the face to the Malfoys, all the more so because they wasted far more than they could afford to put their Ball on, and much of what they'd sunk into it was wasted because most of the few who attended were those who couldn't get an invite to the Longbottoms' Ball.

It wasn't only the Malfoys who were disappointed about the Longbottoms' Yule Ball though. There were effectively three functions held there, the adults' formal ball, the children's party and the family party, and while Frank and Alice (and Sirius) had to spend most of their time circulating in the adults' ball and children's party and make a show of meeting the ones who came to curry favour with them, Neville, Harry and the others were safe in the family party, which goblin guards kept interlopers out of. Augusta was presiding over the family party, but she and some of the other adults spent time mingling in the adults' ball and children's party while Neville and the others stayed in the family party, and that was what most of the schemers were disappointed about.

Many of the 'traditional' families ('Light', 'Dark' or 'Neutral' was only an indicator of which families they were aligned with, the so-called 'traditional pureblood' families who had ruled the roost in Magical Britain for the last few hundred years tended to at least share the belief that they were better than those which had been 'tainted' by allowing non-magical blood into their bloodlines. Of course this was a fallacy because most bloodlines became non-magical or died out altogether because no children were being born in less than ten generations due to in-breeding without fresh blood being introduced, and most, if not all of the 'traditional' families had grabbed fertile non-magical girls at some point in a desperate attempt to prevent their lines dying out. The difference of course was that they kept this as a dirty secret, usually getting rid of the girls as soon as heirs were born, while the 'non-traditional' but often far older families did so openly and honestly.) had taken advantage of the Longbottoms' stance that Yule was a time for family so the invitations had included any children they may have who were at least six or seven years old to bring any children who were close enough in age to the Longbottom Heir, Duke Potter (it was common knowledge that he was Head and Heir of more than one House), Countess Bones and their ilk to be potential matches, in hope that they'd be able to edge out any others who were trying to get close to the prize catches there.

Having Neville and the other children stay in the 'family' party once the initial receptions as people were arriving were done meant that the only ones who could 'get at' them had to have been invited to the 'family' party, which was, for the most part, their friends from Hogwarts. Hannah Abbott was quite put out to find that her name wasn't on the invitation list, and so was her father when she made enough of a scene, shouting at the goblin guards and trying to get Sue's attention, that she got the entire Abbott family asked to leave the Ball. Sue hadn't actually been ignoring her, there were silencing wards between the three parties to prevent them interfering with each other, so no-one in the family party heard the irate little girl shouting, screaming and carrying on just outside the open doors of the room they were in.

While it was intended to be fun for the children, so more contemporary music was played in the children's and family parties and much more informality was allowed, these affairs were a significant part of the next generation's education in how to behave with their peers, so they also practised the formal greetings, conversation and formal waltzes and dances that were prevalent in the adults' ball. Watching the Hexapod (as many called them at school), their more mature friends from Hogwarts were laughing about the fools at school's vain hopes that they had any chance with any of them, because it was obvious that for all their youth, Harry, Hermione and Luna were already very comfortable and close with each other (in fact most of them were certain that Harry was already betrothed to Luna as well as Hermione) and Neville, Susan and Megan were almost as close. It was clear that, as close as they were at school, they'd been playing down what they were to each other in front of outsiders.

The name Hexapod had been coined for them because the group was very strong and stable (and there were six if them, of course). From the official records, the two Griff wizards were the youngest but they were very powerful, the four Puff witches were quite powerful as well and they all worked well together, watching each other's backs and supporting each other.

Another thing that made them stand out was the fact that they were serious about their physical fitness, something that was rare in the Magical world and almost unheard of at Hogwarts, at least it was until other students saw what it did for them. The initial tentative questions about what it did and how to get started quickly expanded and Professor Flitwick, Madam Hooch and Madam Pomfrey were all delighted to step in and expound the benefits of physical fitness, from the perspectives of duelling, professional Quidditch and general health. Dumbledore hadn't been at all happy about this group becoming the leaders in the students improving themselves as well as being the academic leaders in First Year, because fit and strong students who were learning to think for themselves would not follow his lead blindly and that interfered with his plans. His plans required them to be weak and malleable, _especially_ Harry Potter!

* * *

While those who failed to get the 'ins' that they were after at the Longbottoms' Yule Ball were disappointed, the family and their friends (which included Harry's Aunt Petunia and Dudley and Hermione's parents) had a great time. Harry nominally spent the rest of the break with Aunt Petunia and Dudley at the cottage, with a few days spent at Missus Figg's to help re-energise the wards at Four Privet Drive, while Luna spent the break with Hermione and her parents because her father was off on his annual fantastical creature hunt, which they all knew was really just an excuse to try and get away from the memories of losing Pandora. She may have been more Lily's partner than his, but Xeno was lost without her. Of course, while that was where they were _officially_ spending the break, in practice they spent much of the break in their trunks so that they were together and keeping up their training and studies.

There was another change that had come after Petunia and Dudley had moved into the cottage and settled into their new lives, they discovered that they had enough magic to bond with familiars, because two of Missus Figg's half-kneazles had bonded with them when they were visiting her. When Harry arranged for them to be tested, it came out that they had less magic than Missus Figg but probably more than what Tom Riddle's mother had had. This meant that they were capable of learning most of the core Magical subjects, plus Care of Magical Creatures and even Ancient Runes and Arithmancy to a degree.

When Harry did his inheritance tests, it had shown that both Grandpa Evans and Grandma Evans had been high level Squibs, so Aunt Petunia and Dudley had acquired their magic through Grandpa Evans, with the new blood from Aunt Petunia's mother giving it enough of a shot in the arm to take them over the threshold to a weak witch and wizard. This must have been how Dumbledore had been planning to maintain the wards at Privet Drive while Harry was away at Hogwarts….. but while Harry could see magic, the wards keyed to the Evans blood had been leaching off their magic as well as his own, so he hadn't considered them to be magic users because they were borderline to be able to actually use magic.

Leaving aside the hypocrisy of Dumbledore rejecting Petunia's plea to be allowed to attend Hogwarts out of hand when Purebloods with even less magic than her were accepted, she and Dudley accepted the fact that they did not really have enough magic to do well in wand based subjects. However they _had_ been taken to France to get wands without Ollivander or anyone else associated with Dumbledore finding out and were being tutored in the same subjects as Missus Figg and Hagrid (who also got wardrobes like Dudley's to make things easier), because Petunia couldn't wait for the chance to thumb her nose at that old bastard by waving their OWL results, and hopefully even NEWT results, under his nose…. As those who had been at Hogwarts with Lily had learned the hard way, you should never cross an Evans unless you're prepared to suffer the consequences…. and Lily had gotten at least as much of her temper from her Dad as she did from her Mum.

Petunia being magical also meant that Amelia could quietly have their cottage registered as a magic user's home, which made the strong wards the goblins had set up around the cottage all above board (they'd previously had the cottage listed as belonging to one of Harry's magical families, but they could have been caught out if anyone looked into it, now though, it was a registered magical home in Petunia's name so it could stand up to any normal checks).

* * *

When they arrived on Platform 9 ¾ for the trip back to Hogwarts, Harry was struck by the incongruous sight of Lucius Malfoy having an earnest discussion with one of Dumbledore's supporters, Hannah Abbott's father. He saw Malfoy hand something to Abbott before he said something to his son and stalked off and Malfoy Junior sending a smug look his way, but he didn't think much of it, even after Abbott said something to his daughter… Possibly because he saw Hannah looking for them so he rushed everyone onto the Hogwarts Express, getting into a compartment and casting notice-me-nots over the door and windows so that she wouldn't be able to find them.

Lucius was smirking to himself as he walked off, because that had been much easier than he'd expected…. The Abbotts were a proper Pureblood family and the daughter was only eleven so she would presumably still be pure enough to qualify as an innocent… but she wasn't beautiful enough to make her worth considering as a potential consort for either himself or his son. All in all, that made her the perfect subject to feed the diary in his eyes.

It hadn't taken any effort at all to rile up Abbott by commiserating with him about their being unfairly thrown out of the Longbottoms' Yule Ball just because Bones' niece had decided to abandon her real friends so she could get in with Potter, and then suggest that he had a family heirloom that might be able to help his daughter peel Potter away from Bones, the Mudblood and Xeno Lovegood's tetched daughter, because it had been created to assist in circumventing the other suitors of a desired match.

He told Abbott that all his daughter had to do was write in the diary, and as it gained a better picture of herself and the other players it would advise her of the best way to get Bones, the Mudblood and the Lovegood girl out of the way so that she could get Potter under her control... saying that Potter didn't have any proper advisors so once Hannah had him in hand, it should be an simple matter to get him to cancel the betrothal with that Mudblood and get an ironclad betrothal between him and the House of Abbott signed. Using what the Muggles called sleight of hand, he'd cast compulsions on both Abbott and his spawn to accept whatever they were told for the next ten minutes, and then forget about them having this discussion. So everything was going to plan, and with any luck the master should be returned to a body and another one of Dumbledore's supporters destroyed by the end of the school year.

* * *

The trip back to Hogwarts was relaxed and comfortable, with Harry, Hermione and Luna taking up one seat and Neville, Sue and Megan taking up the other. They were skiving off work a little, but having time to relax and talk was good sometimes. Harry and Megan were discussing the fact that they were apparently fifth or sixth cousins, because Grandma Evans had been the daughter of a Squib great, great uncle of Megan's, while Luna was explaining to Neville how to use more of the features of her father's watch, which they'd reset to Neville's magical signature.

It hadn't taken much to decide to set the fourth watch to accept Neville's signature, because that gave him a way to get himself, and Sue and Megan as well, out of trouble, as well as giving them a way to come to him to help if he got into trouble. They'd also used Xeno's watch to test an addition to the watches' functions, adding the runes that would allow them to be used as voice only communications mirrors, so they could also be used to call for help or talk to other communication mirrors that matched the runes added to the watches. Needless to say, once the concept was proven with Xeno's watch, it was added to the other three watches.

They did get a visitor on the Hogwarts Express though, a very strange House Elf by the name of Dobby. He was hard to understand because he was very upset, but the gist of what he was trying to tell them as far as they could tell was that they shouldn't return to Hogwarts because something terrible was going to happen there, because of something his master did. After about half an hour of trying stop them going to Hogwarts and tell them more about what was happening but being blocked by the Elf Bond which made him protect his master's secrets, Dobby wailed and popped away.

The group were quiet after he left, until Neville suddenly turned to Sue and asked. "Wasn't he a Malfoy elf?"

She thought about it for a bit and nodded hesitantly. "I _think_ so." This of course led to them having to explain that from the time they were eight or nine, the Heirs and Heiresses at least of the Noble Houses were required to attend things like the Yule Ball, and up until the one just past, the biggest and best of the Balls were the Malfoys'. Sue stopped and added. "Auntie Ami hates going along with it, because it's basically parading the potential breeding stock to solicit bids, but when the House of Bones was just her and I we couldn't go up against all the established Noble Houses and survive. Megan and I are protected now because of the betrothal contracts Neville's father entered into with Auntie Ami and Megan's father, but for the previous two years we had to go to the Malfoy's Ball and I had to put up with being examined as if I was a prize heifer who was up for auction…."

Neville gave her a hug and said. "Prize _filly_, please! You could never be a _heifer_!"

She smiled up at him, giving him a kiss on the cheek and whispering "Thank you!" before turning back to the others. "But the point is, I believe that Neville's right, I'm pretty sure I saw Dobby putting things out at the Malfoy Ball and he wouldn't have been doing that unless he was a Malfoy elf."

They decided that all they could do was tell Auntie Ami and Auntie Minnie about this and wait and see what came out. Harry was sure that he was missing something but he just couldn't put his finger on it.

They half expected to be the recipients of another display of outrage from Hannah Abbott about being excluded from the family and friends party at the Yule Ball and not being able to find them on the Hogwarts Express when they arrived at Hogsmeade, but she scurried off when she saw them. Sue just let her go, because she was in too good a mood to allow it to be ruined by an argument.

* * *

Things were much the same at Hogwarts, Lupin and Dumbledore were getting up Harry's nose and Malfoy Junior was trying to convince everyone that he was important, but his father must have put the fear of the Gods into him after he was lucky enough to get out of the Halloween incident scot free, because he was staying well clear of the Hexapod… But at the end of February everything changed.

Harry and Neville were escorting the girls to dinner from the Hufflepuff Common Room when Harry started hearing a voice, a voice that the others couldn't hear, except for Luna who could make out some of the words from the sounds she was hearing. None of them thought that this was a good sign, so Hermione called Auntie Minnie's mirror to tell her what had happened and ask her to call Auntie Ami to let her know that they may have discovered the terrible thing that Dobby warned them about on the Hogwarts Express, then they headed straight for the Great Hall. Their foreboding of bad things coming changed to a certainty when they reached Moaning Myrtle's toilets and found something written on the wall across from the toilets in what looked like blood, along with Filch's cat hanging from a sconce, stiff as a board.

Hermione hurriedly called Auntie Minnie again to tell her she needed to get down to Moaning Myrtle's toilets as quick as she could because everything was about to go arse up.… As she could hear groups of Hufflepuff and Slytherin students coming up from their Common Rooms and she just _knew_ that this was going to get nasty quick smart. Hermione had never sworn in her hearing before, so Minerva grabbed Pomona and Filius and hurried out of the Great Hall. Unfortunately Dumbledore smelt that something was up and followed them, taking his faithful wolf with him.

The group of Hufflepuffs arrived just as Hermione finished the call and started worriedly whispering about the message on the the wall, which said something about the Chamber of Secrets being opened and Enemies of the Heir Beware. The Slytherins arrived just after the Hufflepuffs and Malfoy was emboldened enough to shout out something about. "Enemies of the Heir Beware? You're done for now Mudbloods!"

Of course Filch arrived before Minerva and the others could, and when he saw his cat hanging there he started screaming about his cat being killed and demanding justice. Being the idiot that he was, he actually grabbed Harry and started screaming at him that he'd pay for murdering Missus Norris.

When Minerva arrived, she hissed at Filch to unhand Duke Potter and Filch dropped his arm as if it was red hot and jumped back, suddenly realising what he'd done. He remembered what had happened to that troll and those two Weasleys who crossed this brat and felt very short of breath, as if the dementors were already sucking out his soul.

As soon as Dumbledore arrived, he tried to get something out of the situation by putting on his 'this is a serious matter/disappointed grandfather' routine. "What do you have to do with this Mister Potter, I must insist you tell me everything because it looks very bad, being found here like this."

Filch looked as if he was going to be sick when Harry snapped at Dumbledore "I would be _very_ careful about making any accusations against _anyone_ if I were you Headmaster! Because if Salazar Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets has indeed been opened as this says, it would appear that you have yet again failed your duty to protect the students of Hogwarts against dangerous creatures being let into the castle. Please tell me that you at least remembered to close that portal you opened to allow dangerous animals into the castle after the Professor Quirrell used it to bring a _second_ Mountain Troll into the castle at Halloween to distract everyone while he tried to steal your friend's trinket? That was rather forgetful of you, if not negligent, to leave the portal open like that.", because the Headmaster stepped back in fear of what the boy could do to him, and if the boy was dangerous enough to frighten the headmaster, what chance did _he_ have?

Dumbledore tried to regain control of the situation. "_I_ am the Headmaster here Mister Potter, and I asked you a question!"

Harry smirked at him. "Oh dear, it really does appear that you are having trouble with your memory Headmaster, because I distinctly recall you being reminded of your place my both my Guardian Duke Black _and_ the Director of the DMLE on several occasions since this school year started. I also remember the Director of the DMLE warning you of the trouble you would be in if you tried to interfere with a DMLE investigation again, which I believe that this would have been since we first contacted Professor McGonagall about something being wrong in the castle…. Is that correct Professor McGonagall?"

For all the seriousness of the situation, Minerva was having trouble not smiling at Harry, because she'd never seen anyone put the Old Goat Molester in his place like Jamie and Lily's boy could. "Indeed Mister Potter, I contacted the DMLE as soon as I got the message from Miss Granger that something was wrong, and I did so again when I got her follow up message just now."

Harry half bowed to her. "Thank you Professor McGonagall, it is comforting to know that we can rely on some of the staff to do the right thing..." He made a show of checking himself and turning to Pomona and Filius. "Oh I am sorry Professor Sprout, Professor Flitwick, I didn't mean to imply that _you_ would fail us, any more than Professor McGonagall would!"

They were all having trouble holding back the laughter now, because he'd just named the three of them as staff members who _wouldn't_ fail to fulfil their duties to the students and made it quite clear that in his eyes the Headmaster would and did do so at every opportunity. He also raised questions about the Professor Lupin, who he'd obviously been in conflict with since he arrived.

Dumbledore said something to Lupin, who went to take Flich's cat down, but Minerva snapped at him. "Professor Lupin! What do you think you're doing?"

"Albus said that this was upsetting the students and asked me to get it out of sight."

"Well stop ye damned fool! Did ye not hear Mister Potter just remind the Headmaster that the Director of the DMLE has made it quite clear that anyone interfering with a DMLE investigation will be in serious trouble with them? I can assure you that they regard tampering with evidence as interfering with their investigation. Just ask Mister Filch what happened when he tried to clean up the girls' toilet where Mister Potter had to rescue Miss Granger from that troll he mentioned to the Headmaster against the DMLE's orders. No one is to touch _anything_ until the DMLE get here and takes a record of all the evidence!"

Her answer didn't come from Lupin, it came from behind them. "Thank you Professor McGonagall, as Mister Potter said, it is good to know that _some_ people on Hogwarts' staff do their duty to their students and the law. Professor Lupin, I will save you asking Mister Filch the question that Professor McGonagall suggested. Mister Filch came very close to being arrested for attempting to destroy evidence on Halloween when he ignored my Auror's orders not to touch anything in the girls' toilets until we had recorded everything and collected the evidence for the case. I would have expected the Headmaster to have properly filled you in on this, seeing as it was that incident which opened up the Defence Against the Dark Arts position for you. As the Headmaster has apparently failed to instruct you properly, I will do so now…. please pay attention because this will be your one and only get out of jail free card in this matter…. If _anything_ happens in the castle which _may_ become a criminal matter, no evidence is to be touched, you are prevent the evidence from being interfered with if possible and advise one of the House Mistresses or House Master about what has happened immediately so that they can contact us. Traditionally it has been the Headmaster's duty to contact the DMLE but the Hogwarts Board has changed that in recent months because the Headmaster has repeatedly failed to do so. Do you understand Professor Lupin?"

It was obvious that he wanted to argue that the Headmaster was in charge at Hogwarts, but Remus Lupin had been the intelligent one in the Marauders and he hadn't lost that intelligence, so his response was. "Yes Madam Bones, I understand. If I discover any evidence which may indicate criminal activity, I will not touch it, I will do what I can to prevent it being interfered with and contact one of the House Mistresses or House Master, who will advise the DMLE."

Amelia nodded with a smile. "Very good Professor Lupin, I shall look forward to this level of cooperation in all our dealings..." She lowered her voice. "One piece of advice if I may?"

Lupin nodded cautiously and stepped closer to hear what she had to say. "Certain people here are very frugal with the information they choose to share with others and not having the full information about what you're asked to deal with will put you in a very dangerous position. I would suggest that you ask Professor McGonagall to fill you in on everything that's been happening here at Hogwarts. To summarise, in this school year, one student has already been expelled, had his wand snapped and been banned from ever using magic in Britain. Your predecessor died in custody from an ethereal condition he had when he was teaching here, a fully grown mountain troll had to be killed inside the castle _by a student_ to save another student, a student was executed along with his mother by the Wizengamot for attempting to kill the Head of a Most Ancient House and his Betrothed, another five students only escaped that fate because we had proof that they'd been under a compulsion to follow the first student's orders and as I said, Mister Filch was almost arrested because he didn't accept that Aurors had the authority to override the Headmaster…. And all but the expulsion related to that Mountain Troll incident!"

She paused and looked at him. "On an unrelated matter, from what I hear you have been told untruths about Duke Black and Duke Potter as well. The truth of the matter is that at the Headmaster's insistence the Potters changed their Secret Keeper to Peter Pettigrew in August Nineteen Eighty One, Duke Black was so distraught at finding his blood brother and his wife murdered that night that he allowed Hagrid to take young Harry to the Headmaster, giving him his motorcycle to prevent Harry having to endure travel by Portkey at his young age. Then Duke Black made a mistake and went after Pettigrew, running straight into a trap that Pettigrew set for him because someone had apparently tipped Pettigrew off. Cornelius Fudge and a squad of Hitwizards arrived suspiciously quickly, stunning Duke Black and sending him straight to Azkaban without any investigation _or_ trial on the explicit orders of Bartemius Crouch, Millicent Bagnold and Albus Dumbledore, and he remained there until Duke Potter returned to our world from where he'd been left with Muggle relatives to be abused in contravention of the Potters' wills, which Albus Dumbledore had sealed without any authority to do so the day after Halloween, illegally declaring himself Harry Potter's Guardian on the same day. Duke Potter had his parents' wills and the other documents they'd left read and brought what was in them to my attention, we also managed to locate and capture the supposedly dead Death Eater Peter Pettigrew and they were both questioned under Veritaserum at their trials, where Duke Black was cleared of all charges against him and released while Pettigrew was stripped of his order of Merlin, given the Dementor's kiss and put through the Veil of Death. The Headmaster is putting others at risk by failing to fulfil his duties and refusing to share important information, please do not allow yourself or others to be made his victims."

Lupin was conflicted, be couldn't believe what he was hearing about Albus, but Harry, Minerva and now Amelia Bones were all essentially telling him that he'd gone bad, and had been for some time. From what Amelia… the Director of the Bloody DMLE now…. just said, Albus had told him to do something that he had to have known could get him arrested! He hadn't said anything about the previous DADA teacher dying... of a possession from what she said, Harry having to kill a bloody Mountain Troll inside the castle to save another student or that Ron and Molly Weasley had been executed by the Wizengamot for criminal activities… He'd said that Ron and Molly died because Harry was going down a dark path, implying that they'd been innocent victims of some dangerous activity he'd gotten himself tangled up in…. Pomona Sprout had been determined enough to stop him siding with Albus that she pretty much threatened to blow his head off…. Albus had also told him to ignore that injunction and keep trying to talk Harry around, which was why he was more in debt now than he'd been when he started in November _and_ he'd outright lied to him about Sirius and Harry. It had taken him a while, but he was finally beginning to open his eyes to the fact that Albus Dumbledore wasn't the wizard he thought he was… at all... The trouble was, he couldn't afford to leave until he'd paid off those penalties unless he got the money from someone else, and he wasn't going to take charity from anyone…. He suddenly realised that he hadn't answered Amelia and nodded.

"Yes Madam Bones, I will do that, thank you."

* * *

She nodded, satisfied that he seemed to be at least listening now, and ordered the Aurors to collect all the evidence while she took Harry and the others into a classroom to ask about what Minerva had called her about. It didn't take long for it to click after they all repeated what they heard. "Harry, you wouldn't happen to be a parseltongue, would you?"

He looked at her for a bit and nodded. "Yes Auntie Ami, I found that I could talk to snakes when I was six, I was working in the garden and a snake was trying to make me go away but I talked to him until he calmed down and moved him somewhere else where he'd be safer."

She nodded musingly and turned to Luna. "And you've inherited your father's talent to be able to work out what most beings and creatures are saying, haven't you Luna?"

Luna smiled. "Yes Auntie Ami. I didn't think Daddy told anyone about that except for Mummy."

"I don't know whether he has Sweetie, your Mum was the one who told me, because it's very useful to know where you can find someone who can interpret what other creatures are saying."

She sat back with a sigh. "So what do we know about this? The Chamber of Secrets has supposedly been opened, there's some sort of serpent running around the castle and it somehow petrifies its victims… but unless it's a serpent with hands and arms, someone in the castle must be working with it, because someone painted that message on the wall and tied Filch's cat to the sconce after it was petrified….."

Dumbledore cut in then, because unfortunately they couldn't exclude him when something was happening in the castle. "Harry, I'm very concerned to hear that you have such a Dark talent as being a Parseltongue, because this, along your recent violence and lack of compassion, are signs that you're turning Dark..."

Harry swore under his breath, only just managing to keep it quiet enough to prevent Minerva hearing what he'd said and washing his mouth out. "First, it's Duke Potter or Your Grace here where there aren't any other students old man! I _won't_ warn you again! Second! if you managed to get your head out of your arse and look farther than the end of your own nose as any great scholar such as you claim to be would, you'd know that Parselmouths are actually revered across most of the Magical World, it's only here in backwards old Magical Britain that it's classed as a _Dark_ talent! And only in the last fifty years or so at that, you wouldn't know anything about that, would you? Third! The only thing I've been violent towards so far was that Troll _you_ allowed into the castle but if you try to tell me that I should not have saved my betrothed from a planned attack who's mastermind hasn't been brought to justice _yet_, I may well become violent again… You may have gotten rid of the evidence old man but I _know_ that you were the one behind the attempt to kill Hermione, if you _ever_ try anything like that again against anyone I care about **_I. Will. End. You!_** Fourth…. Whenever _you_ say 'compassion', I just see the endless 'second' chances _you_ insist on giving to the monsters who murdered my parents, tortured Neville's parents into being locked inside their heads for ten years and raped, tortured and murdered thousands of good people. Everyone _but_ you sees that for the _Greater Good_, those monsters all need to be exterminated so that they can't rape, torture or murder anyone else! So unless you have anything of use to offer, such as what _really_ happened in Nineteen Forty Three when the Chamber of Secrets was opened and you, as the Deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts, allowed Tom Riddle, AKA _Lord_ Voldemort, to frame fourteen year old Rubeus Hagrid for opening the Chamber and getting a fellow student killed so that he was expelled, had his wand snapped and was banned from practising magic in Britain…. When you knew full well that his pet couldn't have killed her because it was an Acromantula, which would have left fang marks, I suggest that you keep your mouth shut Headmaster….."

He snorted at Dumbledore sitting there with his mouth open, the very picture of abject shock. "What, do you really think that the _Great_ Albus _Percival_ Dumbledore is the only one who can dig up the relevant information on events in our world? No, our account managers and solicitors are very good at digging up information but _they_ don't hide it to prevent it being used to address the wrongs of our world when they find it. There's a saying in the non magical world Headmaster, 'If you aren't part of the solution, you're part of the problem' and you, Headmaster, are most _definitely_ part of the problem!"

"So Headmaster, are you going to tell us exactly what happened in Nineteen Forty Three so that we can try and prevent anyone else being killed by whatever is in Salazar's Chamber of Secrets, or are you going to try and palm us off with more empty platitudes and refuse to share what you know?"

"I wish that I could Harry, but that information is too dangerous to risk getting out."

Harry turned to Hermione. "That's a Hundred Galleons you owe me Hermione, and can you please send a note to Uncle Ted to initiate the damages proceedings against Albus Percival Dumbledore for repeatedly using uninvited familiarity to Duke Henry James Potter after he had been given numerous warnings in front of witnesses? I told the old fool that that was his last warning, maybe the pile of Galleons this will cost him will make him listen."

Hermione grimaced. "I should have known better than to make that bet, but some of the family were still holding out hope that he would do the right thing when the cards were laid on the table like that. Maybe I need to start listening to Auntie Patty like you do instead of the ones clinging to their faith that people are inherently good, I'd certainly be richer it I did… And yes Harry, I'll get the note off to Uncle Ted tonight."

His voice went softer as he said. "Why don't we just forget about that bet? I wasn't serious about it."

Hermione shook her head with a smile and kissed him on the cheek. "No, thank you but a bet's a bet, it was silly of me to bet that much after seeing the evidence of what he's done. I should have realised that you knew him better than I did when you took the bet at ten to one odds. Having to pay out that much will be a reminder to me not to be so stupidly trusting next time."

She took in Dumbledore glowering at her and turned to Amelia. "Auntie Ami, given that Harry's been proven correct that the Headmaster won't give us any information that will help us solve this problem, I don't see it being prudent to allow him to listen to what we are discussing so that he can attempt to sabotage us and then steal the glory for himself, do you?"

Amelia gave Dumbledore a look of disgust. "No Hermione, I don't. Headmaster, if you refuse to assist us in protecting Hogwarts' students and staff from whatever it is that came out of the Chamber of Secrets, I will have to ask you to leave."

Dumbledore drew himself up. "Madam Bones, I am the Headmaster and I will not be ordered about in my own school!"

* * *

She gave him a long look and then shook her head, pulling out her communications mirror. When the mirror she called was answered she launched straight into the issue at hand. "Duke Black, we need to convene an emergency meeting of the Hogwarts Board tomorrow. Headmaster Dumbledore is obviously unfit to hold his position because he has taken leave of his senses. There has been an incident at Hogwarts….. Okay, _another _incident at Hogwarts… where a message was painted on the wall in blood, chicken blood Senior Auror Shacklebolt assures me…. Yes, I was a little concerned about the fact that he could identify what type of blood it was too until he informed me that his family still maintains some of the rituals from the old country… Anyway, the message said that the Chamber of Secrets has been opened and makes a threat to the 'enemies of the Heir', plus the Caretaker's cat has been petrified. Duke Potter has apparently been having his people investigating events at Hogwarts among other things and shared what they'd dug up about the last time the Chamber was opened in Nineteen Forty Three. Apparently Tom Riddle, AKA Lord Voldemort, framed Rubeus Hagrid, who was in Third Year at the time, for opening the Chamber and causing a student to be killed. Professor Dumbledore was the Deputy Headmaster back then so Duke Potter asked the Headmaster to tell us exactly what happened the last time the Chamber was opened so that we could hopefully learn something that could help us prevent anyone else being killed. He was clearly fully expecting the Headmaster to refuse to share any information that could help us because he had made a bet with Lady Hermione and that was exactly what the Headmaster did. Lady Hermione then pointed out that if the Headmaster was going to refuse to help us, him being here would do little more than give him more opportunities to sabotage our efforts so I asked him to leave and he informed me that he wouldn't be ordered about in _his own_ school. I think that we can take that as proof that Professor Dumbledore is delusional and therefore the Board needs to relieve him of his position…."

She listened for a bit (her mirror had runes generating a permanent privacy charm so that anyone more than a couple of feet away couldn't hear what came out of it) and then nodded, looking at Dumbledore. "Yes, I will advise Professor Dumbledore that he will be required to appear before the Hogwarts Board at Three PM tomorrow afternoon with any proofs he has to convince the Board that he is competent to retain the position as Headmaster, and that failure to appear will be taken as confirmation that Professor Dumbledore does not wish to retain his position as Headmaster of Hogwarts, or any other position at Hogwarts."

Dumbledore was staring at Amelia in shock as she said her goodbyes and terminated the call. "You cannot seriously believe that the Board will allow you to dismiss me on the word of a couple of children?"

She shook her head at him. "You really are delusional Dumbledore! Duke Potter shared what his people had come up with and asked you to share what you knew about the last time the Chamber was opened because you were here at the time and you refused to tell us anything. I will investigate Duke Potter's charges in regard to your involvement in the plot to kill Lady Hermione, and if we can show that they have substance, I will ensure that you are punished. If the Wizemgamot will not punish you, I will give you to the goblins! But as for the Board, have you forgotten who holds the two most senior seats on the Hogwarts Board old man? You have endangered the students too many times with your games and I for one do not intend to let you do so any more!"

Dumbledore struggled to his feet and went to shuffle out of the room without another word. Harry was fairly sure that was a ploy for sympathy but just before he left the room Amelia got a wicked smile on her face and called out. "Oh Headmaster?" The old man turned around, expecting a reprieve, but she quickly dashed his hopes.

"I thought you should that Baron Flamel was rather confused when we returned the Philosopher's Stone to him, because he couldn't remember having given it to you. Needless to say, he and the Baroness were shocked and horrified when they discovered that they had both had numerous compulsions and memory manipulations cast on them over the last seventy or eighty years, which was reportedly the time that they've known you. While thankful that the Stone was returned, they were furious about what had been done to them and have been checking their records to ascertain what else they had been induced to do under your compulsions. Baron Flamel wishes you to know that everything you believed would be coming to you when they died is now going to Duke Potter as Baron Flamel regards him to be far more worthy than you, and some of it is being transferred to him before they die because they were touched by Duke Potter's heartfelt plea for them to live and keep what they have for a few more centuries. He also stated that they will be recovering _everything_ you have coerced from them, and that he has advised the Alchemists' Society to revoke your Mastery in Alchemy because when he checked what you submitted to gain your mastery once the compulsions had been removed, your work in no way qualified for a Mastery, or even a Journeyman's status. Apparently the Alchemists' Society are also contacting the other organisations which have granted you Masteries and urging them to carefully check what you submitted for your other masteries in case you manipulated the minds of those who granted your other Masteries as well. I believe that the Non Magical term for this is 'Hoist on your own petard' Professor."

Dumbledore was looking genuinely broken as he shuffled out the door this time.

Then Amelia turned to Lupin. "I hope that you have begun to see the light Professor Lupin, but surely you can see that we cannot trust you not to run straight to….. What was that name that the children came up with for him Minerva?"

Minerva smirked. "The Old Goat Molester."

"Ah yes, so evocative and so apt, I understand that Aberforth is still seeking revenge for being sent to Azkaban for Albus's perversions. Surely you can see that we cannot trust you not to run straight to the Old Goat Molester with what you hear Professor?"

Lupin nodded resignedly. "Of course Madam Bones, I will leave you to it."

* * *

She nodded graciously, but once he'd left she cast privacy spells around the room and checked for monitoring charms, which they weren't surprised to find as they hadn't been watching Dumbledore the whole time he was in the room. Once they had been dealt with, she looked around. "So what else do we know?"

Harry pushed his hair back in frustration and said. "That I'm an idiot! Ever since Neville and Sue identified the elf who warned us on the Hogwarts Express as a Malfoy elf, something's been niggling at me but I haven't managed to put two and two together until now… When we were on Platform Nine and Three Quarters after the Christmas break, I saw Lucius Malfoy having an earnest discussion with Hannah Abbott's father, who we know is a Dumbledore supporter. Malfoy handed something to Abbott and Abbott said something to his daughter before he left, so I presume that he passed whatever Malfoy gave him on to her. Malfoy obviously said something to his son too because the smug little git was acting as if he had a big secret, but I don't see his father being stupid enough to tell him anything important because he'd tell half the castle if he thought it gave him anything to boast about. Hannah surprised us at Hogsmeade because she didn't go off about the fact that she and her family were asked to leave the Longbottom's Ball, she just left, but I put it down to her father telling her to keep her mouth shut and stay out of trouble for once. The wards also registered a dark object entering the castle that night, which of course Dumbledore ignored. We obviously need to search Hannah Abbott's trunk and belongings, but she could have hidden whatever it is anywhere in the castle by now. This object must have something to do with the Chamber of Secrets, but I can't for the life of me work out what it is."

That gave them something concrete to do, so Pomona took Amelia and some female Aurors to search Hannah Abbott's dorm room, belongings and person, but as Harry suspected they didn't find anything and Hannah claimed that she didn't know what they were talking about. Now that she knew something was going on though Pomona could see that there was something 'off' about Hannah, and her dorm mates confirmed that she'd been acting differently since she came back from the Christmas break.


	6. When Harry Met Sally

**Still my beating heart, my li'l ol' story has been recognised by a member of the _Underbridge_ Clan! I would have thought that Spacecowboy was a strange name for an Underbridge to choose, because how do you see space from down there, and as everyone knows, in space no-one can hear you pontificate, but whatever makes you happy Mr Underbridge. I must admit that what you were saying didn't make any sense to me until I realised that you can't tell what's going on unless you hear what's said. _(__D__on't worry, I won't judge, __l__ots of people have trouble reading, just keep working at it __and__ you'll be able to read a whole story one day__. Good thing you have those ready made reviews to __pick from__, isn't it?)_**

**Usual disclaimers no rights to anything from JKR's stories.**

They were trying to keep an eye on Hannah Abbott, in hope that she'd lead them to whatever it was Lucius Malfoy gave her father, but she'd obviously been spooked by the search for the object and didn't do anything but go to class, meals and bed for a few weeks.

That changed when two Hufflepuff First Years and somehow Sir Nicholas, the Gryffindor Ghost, were petrified in an out of the way corridor one night when they lost sight of her. Madam Pomfrey examined the students and couldn't find any marks on them other than being petrified, which seemed to confirm that they had been attacked by the gaze of the creature. Of course, while he put on a big show of bemoaning the fact that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened again, Dumbledore still refused to give them any information that they could actually use to try and locate it and Ami had to stop them just ripping the information out of his head by force because the majority of Magical Britain still idolised the old bastard, so they'd reject any evidence that would justify the act and turn on them for attacking 'the Great Albus Dumbledore'.

They hadn't managed to work out what type of creature was doing this. The only creature they knew of which turned its victims to stone like this was a Gorgon, but they hadn't been heard of for thousands of years and nothing in the legends said that they spoke in parseltongue, though theoretically, if it was a Gorgon they wouldn't have needed anyone else to paint the sign on the wall or hang Filch's cat. There was also the fact that, even though they were petrified, the cat and the Puffs were still alive, which the Gorgons' legends never mentioned.

While there was a potion that should reverse the petrification so that the victims could tell them what did this to them, its key ingredient relied on Mandrakes, which only grew in temperate conditions in the northern hemisphere and didn't usually mature until the end of Summer. All attempts to grow them artificially in time chambers had failed to retain the properties needed, they'd added time chamber runes around small greenhouses in a number of locations in an attempt to grow the Mandrakes faster while retaining the requisite properties, but it would be at least a month or two before they could see whether that worked. Amelia regretfully told them that they wouldn't get away with ripping the answers out of Abbott's head either because the little bitch was a _Pureblood_, so the Purebloods who controlled the Wizengamot would crucify them for attacking one of their own if it was ever discovered.

Someone was also removing the tracking charms they put on Abbott. They suspected Dumbledore at first but the tracking charms they put on _him_ stayed in place and he very rarely got anywhere near her, so it had to be someone else. This meant that they actually had to keep an eye on her, but even with the elves and portraits trying to watch her there were times that she was out of sight.

About four weeks after the Puffs and Sir Nicholas were petrified, there was another incident after Abbott managed to disappear, a Gryffindor Sixth Year had apparently wanted to make a name for himself by getting a picture of Slytherin's Monster because they found him petrified, looking into a twin lens reflex camera. This at least eliminated the possibilities of it being a Gorgon, because the mirror in the viewfinder should have negated the effects of the Gorgon's gaze, and that lead them to wonder whether the same had applied to the other victims, as Filch's cat could have seen whatever it was in the reflections of the puddles on the floor in the corridor from Moaning Myrtle making the toilets flood again, and it was possible that Sir Nicholas had gotten between the Puffs and whatever it was to try and protect them. That made them start looking for something which could do _more_ than petrify with its gaze, but they were still coming up blank.

Minerva, Pomona, Filius and Septima discussed what to do with Amelia, as the Director of the DMLE, but as her people couldn't find any indication of anything getting into the castle either they couldn't get the rest of the Hogwarts Board to agree to close the school until they were sure it was safe due to the Ministry's pressure. The most they could do was tell the students to only move about the castle in groups that were escorted by Magical Law Enforcement Patrol officers, which of course most of them ignored.

About five weeks after the Gryffindor, there was another student petrified. It was Penelope Clearwater, a Fifth Year Ravenclaw prefect this time and she was one of their friends so Amelia was still arguing with Harry and the others weeks later, trying to stop them getting the answers out of Abbott any way they could and letting the Wizengamot do what they will when Slytherin's Monster struck again, but it killed this time.

* * *

Harry couldn't muster any grief when he heard that the victims were three Slytherin First Years, Draco Malfoy and his constant companions Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. Of course, Dumbledore saw this as a chance to curry favour with Malfoy by being seen determined to find his son's killer, so he contacted Malfoy without even bothering to notify Minerva, as his Deputy, or Pomona, Filius and Septima as the other Housemistesses and Housemaster, that three students had been killed in the castle so that they could get the rest of the students to safety.

Hogwarts got word to Harry via Myrddin that Slytherin's Monster had struck again, and it had killed this time, as well as the fact that Dumbledore had contacted Malfoy, so they called Auntie Ami to fill her in and tell her to get her arse to Hogwarts as soon as she could. That was how she arrived at Hogwarts with a squad of trusted Aurors soon after Malfoy arrived with Minister Fudge, his so-called bodyguard Auror Dawlish and half a dozen other bent Aurors that Fudge had bought.

Amelia and her Aurors arrived just in time to catch Dumbledore, Malfoy, Fudge and their minions turning up at Hagrid's cottage to arrest him and throw him into Azkaban without a trial for opening the Chamber of Secrets again and causing the deaths of three more students. All bets were off this time and Patty (Patricia Runepick, Head Cursebreaker for Gringotts and a close friend of the Marauders and Lily Evans who was a master Legilimens) ripped the information they needed out of Dumbledore and Malfoy's heads, because there was another message in blood on the wall across from Myrtle's toilets now that said '_Her Skeleton will lie in the Chamber forever'_, and Hannah Abbott was missing.

If it was just Abbott, they might have left her there, but what they got out of Malfoy's head about what the diary he gave her was meant that they _had_ to go after her to stop Riddle returning. They kicked themselves for missing the obvious after she pillaged Dumbledore's memories, because the student who was killed in Forty Three was Myrtle Warren, Moaning Myrtle, and he had reasoned that the most likely creature for Salazar Slytherin to keep that could kill without leaving any mark other than petrification was a basilisk. The fact that he'd removed any mention of her petrification from the records and any books that had any real information about basilisks after he rose to power in Forty Five mollified them a bit, but not that much.

They stunned, silenced and bound Dumbledore, Malfoy, Fudge and their minions and sealed them into Hagrid's cottage until they had time to obliviate them of the incident, replacing their memories with ones that showed Amelia arriving just in time to stop Hagrid's arrest and having a screaming match with Fudge until he backed down and left with Malfoy and their minions. The Aurors who came with her agreed to have their memories changed to match, because they knew what would happen if the true account of what happened ever got out, but all that had to wait because they had to get to the Chamber of Secrets before Riddle could resurrect himself.

* * *

By the time they arrived at Myrtle's toilets Gringott's nephew and Heir Ulfr, who he was grooming to take over from him one day, was there with a squad of Clan Gringott's elite goblin warriors. After hearing the real properties of basilisks, Amelia had to concede that goblin warriors would be more effective against a thousand year old basilisk than witches or wizards could be. That didn't meant that they weren't going with them though.

Once inside and Myrtle had gotten over her tantrum about boys and strange creatures being in her toilet. Harry asked her how she died, making himself listen to the whole rambling story politely before he ran over to the sinks where she said she saw the 'big yellow eyes' just before she died. It didn't take long to find the snake scratched into a tap there and he, Hermione and Luna quickly called all the Heirloom shields of their originally Druid Houses, along with Ulfr's and Gringott's High Goblin shields that he'd brought with him, that gave them over a dozen shields. These shields differed from the Myddril magical bucklers that most of Goblin Clans' elite warriors had in that the bucklers wouldn't expand any bigger than eighteen inches across, while the Heads of Druid Houses and High Goblins' shields would go up to thirty inches across and had mirror surfaces on the face. These were originally created to deal with Gorgons but they were also found to be effective against basilisks, so they were crafted for the High Goblins who were the leaders of the Goblin Clans and the Heads of Druid Houses to give them the tools to deal with basilisks in the days where they were encountered more. Harry, Hermione and Luna called and expanded their extra shields then handed them to Auntie Patty and those warriors and Aurors who were going down to the Chamber of Secrets with them, while Ulfr expanded Gringott's shield and presented it to Amelia to use. She didn't miss the honour that she was afforded in being allowed to carry the shield of the leader of the Goblin Nations so she accepted it with all due respect.

Once everyone who was going down to the chamber had a mirror shield, Harry called out "_open_" in parseltongue and a section of the wall that the marked sinks were attached to ground its way haltingly downwards to reveal a pipe at least eight feet across that was plunging down into the darkness at about a forty five degree angle. He could sense that there were steps that could be called in the pipe, but he didn't think they had the time to trudge all the way down what he could tell was a long tunnel so he conjured a toboggan with angled sides to act as runners, which was quickly copied by the others until there were enough for all of them.

Harry went first, in case any other barriers needed to be removed using parseltongue, and also because with the heirloom weapons he'd be more powerful than the other witches and wizards, so he'd have a better chance of casting something like a cushioning charm to stop them at the other end of this pipe. He took a running jump into the pipe to get up momentum for the run, landing prone but coming up into a kneeling position as soon as it settled down so that he could jump off when he reached the other end.

Ulfr jumped in behind him, then Patty, and the rest followed on after her, Amelia making Hermione and Luna go in the middle of the group where they would be safest. Harry had succeeded in transforming into his first Animagus form before Halloween and he was using his Mngwa form's heightened senses to reach out in front of him. Even with that he was almost caught out when the pipe suddenly transitioned from forty five degrees down to horizontal and only just managed to cast a cushioning charm and leap off before the toboggan hit the far wall of the tunnel the pipe opened into. He quickly cast detection charms down the tunnel in both directions to make sure that nothing was waiting for them then vanished the toboggan and strengthened the cushioning charms before Ulfr came shooting out of the pipe.

It was busy for the next couple of minutes as the other eleven humans and goblins arrived, then once they'd told the people waiting up in the toilets as the last line of defence for the castle that they'd all arrived in one piece, they set their shields in front of them and headed off towards where the basilisk had come from (that wasn't hard to work out, as the floor of the tunnel on one side of the pipe looked as though it hadn't been touched for centuries, while on the other side everything, mud, shit and bones, had been pushed to the sides of the tunnel by some massive serpent).

They had their shields at the ready and were constantly casting detection charms in down the tunnel in front of them as they cautiously progressed. Seeing something up ahead of them when they couldn't detect any signs of life was a worry, and that worry wasn't really alleviated when they discovered that what they saw was an old cast off skin that one of the more experienced goblin warriors proclaimed was several centuries old when he scanned it, because the skin was at least twenty five feet long, if it had been this big several centuries ago, how big was the bloody thing now? Their progress was further slowed by carefully checking all of the tunnels that came off the tunnel they were in, to make sure that nothing was lurking up any of them that might come out and attack them from the rear.

* * *

Eventually they came to a chamber at the end of the tunnel, and the wall they found there was dominated by massive silver doors, which some of the goblins confirmed were made of Myddril. The locking bars for the doors were massive silver snakes, so Harry tried "_Open_" in Parseltongue again. While none of them were overly surprised when that worked, they all agreed that the all too lifelike way that the snakes slithered out of the way before the doors started opening ponderously was undeniably creepy.

As the doors ground their way open, the goblins were whispering excitedly to each other, because they were over a foot thick. Ulfr leaned in to quietly explain to Harry in High Goblin that if they were solid, as they most likely were, there was quite possibly more Myddril in the doors than what was known to exist in the world today because the ore needed to produce Myddril was exceedingly rare, which was why anything made from it was so expensive. Harry nodded and responded in the same language, asking him if he would request that Gringott make the information about the doors a Clan Chieftain's secret. Ulfr nodded in turn, saying that that would be a most prudent measure.

Before Harry opened the doors, the goblins willed their swords into spears and Harry, Hermione and Luna called enough of their Heirloom swords and willed them into spears to arm the humans, then everyone but Harry disillusioned and silenced themselves, casting charms to cover their scent so that whoever or whatever was in the chamber would believe that he was alone. Harry sent his own shield and spear back to where they came from so that he appeared to be nothing more than a normal twelve year old wizard, knowing that he could call them to him in the blink of an eye. The flickering light from the sconces on the walls made the carved serpents carved that adorned the pillars and walls look as though they were moving, which didn't make any of them feel that comfortable in there, and the detection charms they cast when the doors opened said that the only sign of life in here was right down the other end.

The last fifty feet at the far end of the Chamber was open because it was free of the snake festooned pillars. There was a massive thirty foot tall bas-relief bust of Salazar Slytherin stretching from the floor to the ceiling and filling the centre third of the wall, with large pools on either side stretching up to where the pillars finished. Harry could see the small figure of Hannah Abbott laying on the floor at the base of the bust so he hurried forward. He sensed that she was still alive but weak and fading, and while he couldn't sense anyone else he knew that Riddle had to be there somewhere so he made a show of hurrying forward and dropping to his knees beside the girl, shaking her and calling out. "Hannah. Hannah! Wake up! We need to get out of here before Slytherin's Monster comes back!"

He heard someone sneering off to the side and looked up to see a boy of around sixteen step out of the shadows at the base of bust. The boy was not solid, because Harry could see through him, but he was solid enough to be holding a wand, Hannah's presumably unless she stole someone else's for him. "She won't wake up Harry Potter. My diary has ensured that she'll stay the way she is until she has returned me to a corporeal form. Pathetic really, both she and her father should have known better than to be so stupidly trusting as to write in an enchanted book without knowing what it was…. She wasn't a virgin as the sacrifice was supposed to be either, I will have to have words with this Lucius Malfoy about that, he must be Abraxus' son. But she is sufficient to achieve what she's here for so I won't punish him too much for that… After all, any pig in a poke will do so long as I'm returned… Do they still say that in the Muggle world?"

Harry shook his head mentally, thinking that he shouldn't be surprised that Riddle had already become a depraved psychopath before he left Hogwarts. He thought he better play up the confused and clueless eleven year old. "Excuse me Sir, but who are you?"

Translucent Tom laughed. "I should have known that the _Great_ Harry Potter couldn't live up to that silly schoolgirl's fantasies. You're nothing but a little boy trying to live up the legend those fools made up for you, aren't you? That doesn't explain how something like you could have defeated the Greatest Wizard of the Age though, and you're going to tell me that before I leave here!"

Harry hid his smirk at that. 'This will be fun Tommy Boy!' "Sorry, but you still haven't told me who you are and how you know my name?… Wait, you said _your_ diary?..." He picked up the diary laying on the floor beside Hannah and made a show of reading the cover. "Does that mean you're T M Riddle?"

Riddle clapped sarcastically and sneered. "Very good Harry Potter! Perhaps you're not a total failure after all. Yes Mister Potter, I was born Tom Marvolo Riddle and had to use that filthy Muggle name until I chose my true name…."

He used the wand to write 'Tom Marvolo Riddle' in flaming letters in midair, and then slashed it across to make the letters rearrange themselves into 'I Am Lord Voldemort'. Harry grimaced to himself. 'That's not good, he can not only hold a wand, he can use one! Hopefully that one's too bad a match for him to work properly though.'

"But..."

"Yes, yes, I know boy! I know who you are because that silly little strumpet can't stop writing or fantasising about you, but I'm more interested in hearing about how you defeated _Me_… the greatest wizard of the age, and she knew nothing about that!"

OK, having to stroke the Old Goat Molester's ego a little is a fair trade for kicking Tommy Boy where it hurts. "No! Professor Dumbledore is the greatest wizard of the age!"

When he saw the rage on Translucent Tom's face he smiled to himself, yep, that was a six! "Albus Dumbledore is _nothing_ compared to me! I bested that old fool as a sixteen year old schoolboy and had him dancing to my tune... Him, Dippet, _everyone!_ They all swallowed what I told them about that creature Hagrid releasing Slytherin's monster from the Chamber of Secrets to make it his pet, which resulted in it killing _poor_ little Myrtle Warren, without question even after he'd been telling anyone who'd listen about how he'd raised _Aragog_ from an egg and how good he could talk for a young Acromantula. I just wished that I'd thought to tell them that the overgrown oaf had released the monster from the Chamber of Secrets to set it on the ones who laughed at him for being such a stupid beast…. I'm sure I could have convinced them to give him the dementor's kiss or throw him through the Veil of Death, that way I wouldn't have had to put up with watching the pathetic oaf stumbling around Hogwarts as the Gamekeeper's assistant for the next two years. As if a creature like that could _ever_ have opened my ancestor's Chamber of Secrets, even _you_ worked out that only a Parselmouth could open the Chamber…."

OK, a little righteous indignation should be coming out here. "You. You framed _Hagrid_? How could you do something like that?"

Riddle sneered at him. "Don't tell me that you have taken to that sub-human creature too? I take back what I said earlier, you're just as pathetic as the rest of them! Now tell me how you supposedly bested me when you were infant boy! I have wasted more than enough time pandering to you by bringing myself down to your level!"

Harry didn't bother hiding his laugh this time, he had to bring this to a head before Riddle could finish draining the life out of the silly little tart and regain his corporeal form. "_Bringing_ _yourself__ down to __my level_ Tommy? My, don't we have tickets on ourselves? I was actually playing with you earlier Tommy, because I know exactly who and what you are Tom Marvolo Riddle! You're the bastard son of Merope Gaunt, a defective inbred Squib and Tom Riddle, an uppity common _Muggle_! Your father was so disgusted with your mother that he ran home to his parents and had their marriage annulled before you were born, as soon as your stupid mother stopped giving him the love potions that she used to trap the fool into having anything to do with her in the first place actually. You obviously knew what she was the moment you met your Uncle Morfin though, because you framed him for killing your father and grandparents…. I must concede that you made a good try at covering everything up there, killing off your father's muggle family and sending the last of your mother's family off to die in Azkaban for it so that no-one would discover your shame, but you forgot that there were still records and memories of what your family was, didn't you Tommy? Your mother died just after giving birth to you so you were raised in a Muggle orphanage until you were rescued by the _Great_ Albus Dumbledore, but he made you his pawn and plaything, locking you into the path that brought you to this point. It's a pity that you never got a proper gentleman's education though Tommy, because if you had you would know that Voldemort actually means 'Flight from death' in French! Doesn't sound anywhere hear as impressive when you know what it means, does it Tommy? I expect that half of those fools who allowed you to brand them who _did_ have proper Noble educations were pissing themselves laughing inside whenever you made them call you _Lord_ Flight from death! No Tommy, it's only inbred so called _Purebloods_ like this silly little tart here who don't know what you really are, and a good few of them are starting to get it through their thick skulls now."

"But for your information, it wasn't _me_ who defeated you on that Halloween, it was my Mum! My Mum who you and your followers….. minions, slaves? Yes! You branded them and made them call you master and they had to do anything and everything you said to avoid punishment so they're nothing but slaves. My Mum who you and your slaves called a Mudblood, even though her blood was better than your's as her parents were both Squibs who were only just short of being recognised as a Witch and a Wizard and brilliant to boot…. My Mum, the _true_ Heir of Slytherin and the brightest witch of her age who pissed all over your NEWT scores and earned her first three masteries just two months out of Hogwarts, she was the one who created the protections that used her willing sacrifice to save me from _you_! So don't fall for all that Boy Who Lived shite Tommy, that night it was Mum who defeated you, but _this_ time it will be me taking restitution for your cowardly murder of a witch and wizard who were so good that a disgusting creature like _you_ would never be good enough to clean their boots!"

He made the Slytherin ring visible and held up his hand as he added. "Oh, and lookie here Tommy, guess who's been accepted as Lord Slytherin now!"

Yep, that was enough to set him off! He chuckled as he dropped the holly wand into his hand and casually deflected the weak curse Riddle threw at him, almost foaming at the mouth, but he was less amused when he returned with a blasting curse and it went straight through Riddle as if he wasn't there.

* * *

Harry was having no trouble deflecting the curses from the semi-corporeal Riddle, but he could hardly make Riddle feel anything when he struck back. Riddle got desperate when the wand he was holding was destroyed and he realised that the hexes and curses being thrown back at him were effecting him, so he turned to Salazar's bust and called out a pompous phrase in Parseltongue. It must have fit the required formula though because the bust's chin ground down to display an opening much like the one in Myrtle's toilets and then a massive serpent's head emerged, followed by a body that just didn't seem to end. Shite! It was at least three times the size of that skin in the tunnel, more like four or possibly even larger!

Harry called Hedwig and then called Slytherin's shield and spear to him, as he was hoping that the basilisk would recognise Salazar's shield and spear and accept him as its true master. If it did it may be possible to avoid killing it, which would be a shame because the thousand year old basilisk was a magnificent creature.

The odds on that weren't looking good though, because it went to Riddle, saying _"Yes Master?"_ and waiting for his orders, which were just to point to Harry and say "_Kill him!_" in Parseltongue. As the beast turned to Harry he cried out _"Stop! __I__f __Salazar__ Slytherin was your master you must be able to recognise __the__ Slytherin Magic, look at me and you will see that I am now Lord Slytherin, so I am your true master!"_ in Parseltongue.

It paused as it did as he bid, but he heard Hedwig in his head, saying "_Oh no__, this beast __became__ Salazar Slytherin's familiar right at the end __after__ he lost his mind __so it is crazy too__!_", and this was confirmed as the beast spoke.

"_No! __Y__ou are indeed Lord Slytherin, but you are not__hing__ like my master __Salazar__! This one..."_ It turned its head to look at Translucent Tom. "_Is no Heir __of the House of Slytherin __but he is __more __like my master, so __**he**__ is my master __now__!_"

With that it darted forward, mouth agape, but Hedwig transformed into her true Veelaesque form and started throwing fireballs at its eyes, which distracted it long enough for Harry to get past and find some cover among the pillars, holding up the mirror shield to reflect its gaze if it turned on him as he passed. He reached out to Hedwig so that he could use her eyes to see where he was going, because the Bennu was an almost immortal creature like its lesser cousins the phoenix and wasn't effected by the basilisk's gaze. He knew that Hermione and Luna would be doing the same because they were all linked to their four familiars.

Then they heard Hedwig in their minds again. "_Salazar's beast has been blinded, I believe that it should be safe to look at it now._"

Just after that, they heard Luna say. "_Hedwig's right, it's safe to look now._"

Hermione beat Harry to it. "_**What did you do Luna?**_"

"_I looked at its reflection in my shield before I looked straight at it, that way I could have been cured with the potion if its gaze was still deadly. I'm not stupid Hermione but we needed to know."_

They all heard Hermione's voiceless scream of frustration for Luna taking a risk like that so Harry decided to intercede. "_We'll be having words about this later Luna but she's right Hermione, we needed to know so we can fight this thing. Try and let the others know without giving yourselves away because Riddle is telling it to use its other senses to find me now._"

A quick look around the pillar showed that Harry was right, because the basilisk was now seeking him by smell and vibrations. They ducked back behind their pillars and dropped their disillusion charms, waving their arms to attract the others' attention and then pointedly looking around the pillars at where the basilisk was. Half of them made some sort of sign to say that they understood and the girls reduced their shields to bucklers to stop them getting in the way as Harry had and then reapplied their disillusion charms, as the basilisk may not be able to see them but Translucent Tom still could and he would tell the basilisk.

Unfortunately, the basilisk's other senses were quite good, so it almost got Harry with its first strike, but that meant that it came close enough for Harry to thrust Salazar's spear into its mouth and up into its brain though he didn't have time to send a blasting curse through the spear before it jerked back with a shrill hiss of pain. Harry called the Potter sword to him and willed it into a spear as he danced out of the way of the basilisk's thrashing about, then stepped in close as it lowered its head again and thrust the Potter spear up into its mouth and brain as well, sending the blasting curse he had ready in his mind as he did so this time.

That made the basilisk rear back and collapse, dead, but it had managed to catch him with one of its fangs as he thrust the spear into its mouth the second time, breaking off the tip as it injecting its venom into his arm. Harry's heart was pumping madly with the exertion and adrenalin of the fight and he could feel the venom burning its way through his veins, enough that he screamed in pain and dropped to his knees almost straight away. Riddle heard his scream so he came to gloat as Harry died.

He laughed as he saw Harry pull the broken off fang out of his arm and drop it on the floor, because the flesh around the wound was already beginning to discolour from the venom. Harry was fading fast and the burning of the venom was making it hard to think, so he hardly heard Riddle or noticed that Hedwig had landed beside him in her true form and started crying on his arm. He couldn't grasp what Hedwig and the girls were saying to him in his head either at first, but he suddenly realised that he was hearing Hedwig telling him to hold on, her tears would counteract the venom in his veins, and Hermione screaming at him that he wasn't allowed to leave them, that she'd drag him back from wherever he went and make him pay if he tried to leave them. The pain up his arm and across his chest was receding so he opened his eyes to see Hedwig transform back into her public form and reached out to stroke her head as he sent a heart felt "_Thank you Hedwig!_" to her. She rubbed her cheek into his hand and then took off.

Riddle thought that the bird had left him because he was a goner and put aside his musing about what sort of creature could transform from a mail owl into something like that to taunt him about the fact that the last creature he would see in this life had left him when Hedwig returned and dropped the diary right next to the fang tip he'd dropped on the floor when he pulled it out of his arm, sending "_Bind the soul into it and __s__tab it!_" to him. Harry had learned this spell from the people when they started searching for the horcruxes with the Unspeakables so he quickly cast the spell and then grabbed the fang and stabbed it into the diary a few times. Riddle screamed "_Stop!_" when he realised what Harry was doing and then just screamed as he quickly faded away as he was sucked into the diary, which had something foul bubbling and hissing as it oozed out of the holes where he'd stabbed it.

* * *

Almost before the diary stopped bubbling and hissing, Harry was hit with his three girls all at once, both Hermione and Luna were telling him something similar to what Hermione told Luna earlier between kissing him and telling him how relieved they were that he was alive…. And Hedwig was pecking at his head to make sure that he understood what she thought of his taking that stupid a risk, because if he'd just kept out of its way, the basilisk wouldn't have survived more than ten or fifteen minutes with that first spear lodged in its brain.

Amelia caught his eye at that point and indicated that Hannah was waking up, so Harry nodded and kissed the girls, asking them to take Auntie Ami and her Aurors and wait outside the door. As soon as they'd all reached the doors he hissed "_Close_" in Parseltongue so that they'd have a plausible explanation for why she hadn't seen anyone but him and Riddle in the Chamber. Ulfr and the other goblins would remain in the chamber to set up goblin floos and start clearing it out after they'd gone, he'd also call the goblin warriors in Myrtle's toilets down to help, and keep outsiders from seeing them in the castle.

With that Harry conjured a safe container for the diary and fang tip, sealing them inside and dropping it into his pocket before standing and limping over to where Hannah was sitting up. He helped her to her feet but she was looking around in fear and asking where Tom was so he reassured her both that Tom and the diary had been destroyed. That served to calm her until she saw the basilisk, screamed and almost fainted. By this stage Harry was wondering whether he could get away with leaving her there, but ruefully admitted that they needed to bring her back to pull off the act so he put his arm around her and helped her move towards the doors, hoping that she was too far gone to notice that he was far more solid than his appearance suggested.

(Spending so much time in time chambers over the ten months since he'd rejoined the magical world had turned that into nearly six years of elapsed time for Hermione, Luna and himself and they'd been training hard for most of that time, so Harry was effectively a strong and wiry seventeen, Hermione was about eighteen and Luna was sixteen and a half, but she had developed faster because of the Veela Change. They generally hid the changes by using goblin glamours, as this allowed them to keep their full abilities, but they were more solid than they appeared.)

They stopped at the doors and Harry said "_Open_" in Parseltongue, which prompted another reaction from Hannah, then they stepped out to find Hermione, Luna, Auntie Ami, Auntie Patty and three other Aurors waiting for them. Amelia put on a good show as she demanded to know why he hadn't left the doors open so they could help him as she stared at the basilisk in the chamber and Harry shrugged, saying that he hadn't realised that they'd closed behind him. He managed to send a non-verbal "_Close_" in Parseltongue and act surprised when he heard the doors starting to close behind him. "See, they must be spelled to close automatically once whoever opened them has gone through."

At this point, Hermione and Luna none to subtly pushed Hannah away from Harry as they rushed up to hug him and ask if he was alright and he caught Auntie Ami's smirk as she asked one of the Aurors to help Miss Abbott as Duke Potter's betrothed obviously wanted to look after him. Hannah actually looked upset at that as if she had more claim to him but Harry had no intention of allowing any discussion on the subject so he sent a suggestion to the girls that they get moving, making a point of limping as he headed down the tunnel with the girls on each side, 'supporting' him.

Amelia trailed a little way behind the others and used her communicator watch (the runes and intricacies of the time turners in the watches would take some time to recreate if they ever managed, but the voice only communicator runes, portkey, privacy and magical signature security runes were easily repeatable, so most of the family wore watches with those features now) to ask someone to be waiting at the bottom of the pipe with half a dozen brooms so that they could get out without having to trudge up all those stairs and without exposing what they had at their disposal to anyone like the Abbotts. That made it easy when they reached the pipe because Madam Hooch took a disgruntled Hannah Abbott with her, Harry took Hermione, Auntie Patty took Luna and everyone else was flying solo.

Harry and Hermione went last and as they exited the pipe Harry sent another non-verbal "_Close_" in Parseltongue. He looked back at the rising wall and said "It looks like this one's set to close when the opener returns Madam Bones." to Auntie Ami. Amelia pretended to look thoughtful as she agreed.

* * *

They quickly headed down to Hagrid's cottage and one by one revived, obliviated, inserted the new memories they'd finally decided on and re-stunned Dumbledore, Malfoy, Fudge and the others, altered the Aurors' memories accordingly and then took Malfoy and the rest of them outside the cottage and revived them again, having them come to with Amelia shouting at them. "What in the seven hells do you think you're doing? You heard in the castle that we have certified memories that prove that Hannah Abbott was the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets and released Slytherin's Monster while she was possessed by Tom Riddle, that Duke Potter and his betrothed worked out that Moaning Myrtle was Myrtle Warren, the student who was killed when the Chamber was opened in Forty Three by Tom Riddle and you're still trying to arrest Rubeus Hagrid for things he didn't do _either_ time? Leave Mister Hagrid alone! Mister Malfoy, on the basis of the memory evidence we have received from Duke Potter, you will be called to answer to the Wizengamot for your part in this, Miss Abbott and her father will be called to answer questions as well. Minister Fudge, your misuse of DMLE personnel for private purposes is also something that will be addressed by the Wizengamot and you will be required to explain your part in this as well Professor Dumbledore. Dawlish, you and the rest of these thugs are a disgrace! I will see you all in my office first thing tomorrow morning, if you try to run I'll be hiring Ex-Master Auror Moody to track you down and bring you back, dead or alive, so I'd suggest that you be waiting outside my office first thing in the morning!"

Fudge tried to assert his authority. "Madam Bones, you will do no such thing! If I hear that you have tried to pursue this vendetta against these upstanding members of our society I will dismiss you!"

The smile on her face at that made him take a step back in fear. "You have obviously forgotten the laws of Magical Britain and the regulations of both its governing body, the Wizengamot, and the Wizengamot's administrative organisation, commonly know as the Ministry of Magic, Minister Fudge. Everything I have just said is fully compliant with our laws and regulations and the cases have already been lodged to be heard by the Wizengamot…." She turned to look at Dumbledore. "As with previous cases where you have had a conflict of interest Professor, the need for you to recuse yourself as anything but a witness has already been registered and cannot be challenged…." She then turned to Malfoy. "Mister Malfoy, I am duty bound to remind you that if you fail to present yourself to answer to the case made against you, you will be tried in absentia and that will probably go worse for you. Do you understand your duty to answer the case against you before the Wizengamot?"

Malfoy just sneered at her, confident that Fudge would clear this up for him, so she growled. "Mister Malfoy, I require a verbal response to my question, otherwise it will be officially recorded that you have been advised and have explicitly refused to respond, we will be therefore be required to take other measures to ensure that you attend." Malfoy still refused to answer so she nodded. "So be it! Auror Robards, please record the fact that I, Madam Amelia Susan Bones, Director of Magical Britain's Department of Magical Law Enforcement, have made the required two attempts to get Mister Lucius Abraxus Malfoy to formally acknowledge that he understands and will comply with his duty to answer the case against him before the Wizengamot, however Mister Malfoy has refused to respond. Please affix the tracking bracelets to Mister Malfoy so that we can ensure that we are able to locate him and call him to the Wizengamot if he fails to attend."

Anyone watching closely would have seen the smile flash cross over Robards' face as he said "Yes Ma'am" and then fixed the bracelets to Malfoy's wrists before he realised what was happening. Wonderful things these new tracking bracelets, he suspected that the Director got them from the Goblins as they were made of Myddril but they were brilliant. Slim and elegant enough not to draw too much attention, they drew on the wearer's magic and would give their location from anywhere in Europe at least, and indications were that they'd reach much further than that. They included a remotely activated portkey that pulled the wearer to the activator's location, as well as remotely activated magic suppressors and physical restraints (they were drawn together magically and when they touched what was effectively a permanent sticking charm was activated). A delightfully wicked little twist was that once fixed onto the wearer's wrists, they couldn't be removed by anyone without the correct magical signature _and_ non-verbal password, and attempts to forcibly remove the bracelets would almost certainly blow at least one of the wearer's hands off if they passed a certain point, that reminded him…. "Mister Malfoy, it is my duty to advise you that any attempts to remove these bracelets by anyone other than the specified DMLE personnel are quite likely to result in injury to you, so I would advise that you do not attempt to remove them, or allow anyone else to make an attempt. Do you understand what I have just advised you?"

He waited about thirty seconds and then said. "Madam Bones, I request confirmation that you have witnessed me advising Mister Malfoy of the dangers of attempting to remove the DMLE tracking bracelets but Mister Malfoy had once again refused to acknowledge this advice."

"I, Madam Amelia Susan Bones, Director of Magical Britain's Department of Magical Law Enforcement, acknowledge that I have witnessed Senior Auror Gawain Robards advising Mister Lucius Abraxus Malfoy of the dangers of attempting to remove the DMLE tracking bracelets but Mister Malfoy has once again refused to respond."

Amelia had to hide a smile at the horrified look on Malfoy's face, but the urge faded as she looked at Dawlish. "Auror Robards, I do not trust this lot to be bright enough not try to run and I'd rather not have to deal with all the forms if they do anything stupid enough to force Ex-Auror Moody to kill them, so please affix tracking bracelets to these seven as well."

He openly smiled as he said "Yes Ma'am." this time. Dawlish tried to refuse to have the bracelets put on him, but quickly gave in when he was faced with ten glowing wand tips and the expressions on the faces behind them.

* * *

Once Malfoy, Fudge and the others had left, along with Amelia and her Aurors, Dumbledore summoned Harry to his office. He didn't even bother trying to get McGonagall to leave but he wished that he could when she went off at him about dragging an eleven year old boy out of bed this late. It was too much effort to keep up the kindly grandfather act so he just snapped. "Stop your yammering so that we can get this over with and that the boy can go back to bed then woman!"

"H… Mister Potter, I require you to open the Chamber of Secrets for me so that I can secure the basilisk and other contents of the Chamber properly because they are Hogwarts property."

Harry ignored him as he looked at Minerva. "Didn't we resolve this matter with the Sword of Gryffindor Professor McGonagall?"

"Quite possibly Mister Potter, but it may help if you could explain what you mean exactly?"

"Well there are two parts to Professor Dumbledore's…. 'request'. The first is the basilisk. As the person who defeated an XXXXX beast single handedly, I have exercised my right to officially claim the carcass and the Director of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement has formally ratified my claim. Therefore my understanding is that whatever I do with any part of the basilisk is purely my business and has nothing to do with Hogwarts."

Minerva nodded. "Yes, that matches my understanding of the relevant laws Mister Potter so I can see no legitimate challenge to that."

He nodded and continued. "The second part of Professor Dumbledore's 'request' applies to the Chamber of Secrets and whatever resides in it. My understanding from the History of Magic is that the Chamber of Secrets was created as a totally separate entity from Hogwarts by Salazar Slytherin for his personal use, and furthermore the Chamber of Secrets is located outside of Hogwarts' boundaries, so I do not understand Professor Dumbledore's position that Hogwarts has any claim to the Chamber or anything in it."

She nodded again. "Once again, I can see no issues with the points you have raised Mister Potter… Professor Dumbledore, could you explain why you believe that Hogwarts has any claim to Duke Potter's property, in the form of the basilisk that the Ministry of Magic has already acknowledged his claim to, or to the Chamber of Secrets and its contents which legally belong to the Heirs of Salazar Slytherin?"

Dumbledore ignored her as he spat at Harry. "I've had enough of your nonsense Mister Potter! The Chamber of Secrets and everything in it, _including_ the basilisk that was created by Hogwarts' Founder Salazar Slytherin belongs to Hogwarts and I insist that you repudiate your spurious claims to them and give me access to the Chamber of Secrets or I'll... or I'll..."

He suddenly remembered why trying to threaten this Harry Potter wasn't a good idea as his voice chilled him to the bone. "Or you'll _what_ Professor Dumbledore? Expel me, have me arrested and thrown in prison? Well you already did the second when I was fifteen months old, and as for the first… Go ahead! My Hogwarts experience has proven to be nothing like what the people who knew my parents have told me about it. The only things about Hogwarts that have any value to me have been the friendships I've made and what I've learnt from Professor McGonagall and some of the other teachers. So if you think that you can force me to give up any more of what's mine by trying to blackmail me, you have another think coming! My claim to the basilisk is perfectly legitimate and legal and I will _not_ have it stolen from me, and as for Salazar Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets..."

He gave an evil smile as he willed the Slytherin ring visible and held up his hand to display it. "I have been magically accepted as Earl Slytherin, Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Slytherin so Salazar Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets and everything in it is legally mine. Hogwarts has no claim to the property of the House of Slytherin and if you or anyone else try to steal it, I will fight you in the Wizengamot and on the duelling floor Professor Dumbledore….. And speaking of the property of my Houses…. Duke Potter, Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter, calls for all belongings of the House of Potter in the immediate vicinity to be returned to their rightful master!"

One of the drawers on Dumbledore's desk burst open and a shimmering cloak flew to Harry, while a cupboard across the room was smashed open by the ancient and ornate pensieve that had been hidden in there on its way to its rightful owner and quite a number of ancient tomes flew through the door from Dumbledore's private quarters. Harry shrank the pensieve and put it in the bottomless bag he always carried with him, along with the cloak and the books.

While Dumbledore was sitting there dazed, trying to work out how this had happened, Harry spoke again. "Duke Peverell, Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Peverell calls for the Peverell Heirloom known as the Elder Wand to be returned to its rightful master!"

It was quite amusing to see Dumbledore trying to stop the Elder Wand returning to its proper master, especially when the wand ripped a hole in his robes in its escape. There was no question of who the wands' master was when it was in his hand because the magic swirling around the room swept half of the items off the shelves as the Elder Wand resized itself to suit Harry when he formally accepted it.

Harry put the Elder Wand away in his wand holster and stood, looking for all the world like the Pureblood Lord he had on previous occasions. Bowing to Minerva he said. "Professor McGonagall, I believe my business here is done. As you noted when we were first dragged in here, it is quite late and I am also weary after having to rescue yet another Hogwarts student, because the Headmaster was apparently too busy assisting Mister Malfoy and Mister Fudge in theri attempt to frame Mister Hagrid for something he didn't do and get him thrown into Azkaban without a trial _yet again_…."

He paused and turned to Dumbledore. "By the way Professor Dumbledore. I am hereby formally advising you that Rubeus Hagrid is a sworn vassal of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter and therefore any attacks of any kind on him will be met with the full weight of the House of Potter. I would think twice about supporting any further nefarious actions against him if I were you!"

He turned back to Minerva. "Professor McGonagall, I bid you a good night."

"And to you Duke Potter."

With another pleasant nod to her, he swept out of the room, ignoring the Old Goat Molester who was fuming on the other side of the desk.

By the time McGonagall left his office after ripping him a new one _again_, Dumbledore had his head in his hands because not only was Potter getting ever further out of his control, he was losing control of McGonagall and the school too. It crossed his mind for a second that maybe he should just leave Potter alone, but he shook his head. No! Potter had a destiny and he would have to fulfil that destiny whether he liked it or not!

He really needed to get rid of those girls though, especially that Granger Mudblood. She was much too much like Lily Evans, and he wasn't going to allow another Mudblood make as much of a mess of his plans as Evans did.

**AN: In case anyone was wondering what the opening note was about, what lives under bridges? Hint, it starts with a 'T' ;^)**


	7. Not My Problem

**I had fun towards the end of this chapter, so in the words of Wednesday Addams. 'Be afraid. Be very afraid.' ;^)**

**Usual disclaimer, no rights to anything from JKR's stories.**

Harry had to go back to the Chamber of Secrets several times over the next week, to use Parseltongue to give the goblins access to different parts of the chambers behind Slytherin's bust. He had no trouble going along with Gringott's suggestion to remove the doors and seal up the opening because they could access the chamber magically and as Ulfr had said, the Myddril in those doors was worth an absolute fortune. Luckily, as the head of some of the original families, Harry had a number of maximum security vaults at Gringotts, so it wasn't too hard to empty one of those vaults to use for the Myddril and basilisk parts.

He also heartily agreed with the proposal to fill in the pipe down from Myrtle's toilets and the tunnels under Black Lake, because he wanted to close off an unmonitored entry point into the castle which could put the students at risk, but more than that he wanted to see Dumbledore's face if he ever got desperate enough to blast through the wall in Myrtle's toilets to try and get to the Chamber of Secrets and found that there was nothing but dirt and stone on the other side of that wall. He knew that Dumbledore had no legal claim to anything in the Chamber of Secrets, but he also knew that he'd try to get his hands on anything he could.

The fact that the tunnels gave them somewhere to put the material being excavated for the structure the dwarves were building underneath the Rookery, as well as providing a good deal of the dressed stone they needed for the new structure worked out all round. The dwarves were also building a new house at the Burrow for Xeno to officially move into, so that he would not have to face the ghosts of his past all the time. Arabella Figg would also be relocating there with her cats and kneazles when they didn't have to bother keeping up the act about Privet Drive for Dumbledore any more. It would probably be good for both Arabella and Xeno to have company.

* * *

Other plans were progressing for the Grangers to sell their Dental practice and house so that they'd be ready to leave Britain when the situation in Magical Britain escalated (when, not if, they had plenty of evidence to show that the trials and tribulations of the Seventies were bound to be repeated). In the meantime, the Grangers had moved into the Regency Era Town House that the House of Potter had hidden a fidelius charm close to the Ministry of Magic in London, so that Dumbledore, the Death Eaters and the Ministry couldn't find them. While some of the family were too entrenched in their lives in Magical Britain to leave unless there was a total catastrophe, Harry was getting to the point where he couldn't put with much more from Dumbledore and the Purebloods controlling the Wizengamot and the Ministry. This of course meant that Hermione and Luna would be going with him, and arrangements were in place for Auntie Patty and a few others to leave at the drop of a hat as well.

Dumbledore had managed to get laws passed in Magical Britain which ensured that if any Muggleborn and Muggle-raised students left the Magical world before they got their OWLs, they and their families would be obliviated of any and all knowledge of the Magical World and they would have their magic bound (most who were raised in the Magical world couldn't imagine wanting to leave it so it was mainly the Muggleborn and Muggle-raised who were effected by this). They also denied anyone without an established _Magical_ family in Britain the right to transfer to another school outside Britain until after they had their OWLs. The intention of this was obviously to force the Muggleborn and Muggle-raised to stay at Hogwarts until after they got their OWLs, because the only alternative was to have their magic bound and them_ and their families _to lose all memory of the Magical world, and anything else the Obliviators felt like removing 'to protect the Statute of Secrecy'.

What the traditional Purebloods tried to ensure that they never found out about though was the fact that Magical Britain couldn't survive without the constant influx of money that the Muggleborn and Muggle-raised students brought in from the Muggle world, because the concept of earning money from investments didn't exist in most of the Magical world (the Goblin Nations understood it quite well and the Druid Houses who were close to the Goblin Nations also profited from this, so many of them were wealthy). The traditional Purebloods didn't want to have the Muggleborn and Muggle-raised in their world, so they were abused and denegrated at Hogwarts and everywhere else, and the Ministry and most other employers in Magical Britain were structured to lock them out of most worthwhile jobs or positions, no matter how much better qualified they were. As a result, most of the Muggleborn and Muggle-raised students returned to the Non-Magical world soon after they finished Hogwarts, but the Statute of Secrecy prevented them warning anyone else unless they already knew about magic, so there was an on-going intake of Muggleborn and Muggle-raised students for Hogwarts. The fact that the Ministry had mandated for several decades that the Muggleborn and Muggle-raised paid at least twice as much as anyone raised in the Magical world for their Hogwarts fees, changing money and everything they had to buy in Magical Britain ensured that there was a steady influx of funds to offset the money leaving Magical Britain and going to other Magical countries.

* * *

This obviously got right up Harry and Hermione's noses, so the family had been working on ways around this. Harry and Hermione had been learning about magic ever since Hermione turned eleven, and Luna had been learning magic from her parents and their magical library for even longer. Even leaving that aside, with the time chambers they'd been learning magic for nearly seven years of elapsed time by the end of their first school year, and their prodigious abilities made it more like twice that. Having all the magical reference and text books and being tutored in small groups for the practical applications of magic meant that they could progress at their own rate, and they were doing the British and ICW exams for home schooled students to monitor their progress.

They'd passed the exams for the first four years with flying colours before they even started at Hogwarts, and Harry, Hermione and Luna had all taken their British and ICW OWLs in every available subject except Divination by the end of September, getting straight 'O's. They'd taken their British and ICW NEWTs with the same results over the Christmas break, which was why Harry wasn't worried about Dumbledore expelling them out of spite when they confronted him about the Chamber of Secrets, because they were already safe from obliviation under the existing laws, so by the time they had to deal with the basilisk they were getting ready to take the exams for their first masteries, much as Harry and Luna's mums had been doing in their Seventh Year.

They were working on their non-magical education in parallel to their magical studies and Luna took her Eleven-Plus before they started at Hogwarts, so she spent the next seven months in the outside world working through the secondary years, taking her A-Levels in the Easter Break and then starting on her university courses. Harry had taken his A-Levels before they started at Hogwarts and started working on his degrees by distance learning with Hermione, as well as helping the others.

Sue, Neville and Megan weren't anywhere near as advanced as Harry, Hermione and Luna, but having all the extra time and materials for study and tutors who were better than the Hogwarts staff in most subjects and who also summarised the unimportant parts of the syllabus for them meant that they were churning through the subjects too. They were doing the British and ICW exams as soon as they were all comfortable about passing them (Auntie Patty had taught at Hogwarts and she and several of the other adults in the family were registered as accredited tutors with the Ministry and ICW), and while they weren't getting straight 'O's, it was mainly 'O's and a few 'EE's.

Most of their teachers had been giving them different exercises and homework to the rest of their classes, but Dumbledore was clueless about that because the other students didn't really understand that what they were doing was so different. This meant that it was quite a shock to most of the school at the end of the year when Sue, Neville and Megan sat their British OWLs with the Fifth Years. Harry, Hermione and Luna had been planning to sit their British NEWTs again with the Seventh Years just to put on a show, but Dumbledore had given them the excuse they needed to leave by then.

It was even more of a shock when they dropped their glamours as they left and were revealed to be years older than they should be, because very few people in the student body _or_ staff had a clue about how they could have done that, and Dumbledore wasn't one of them. Simple logic should have told them that the members of the Hexapod had somehow managed to compress four or five years into the previous school year and made them think about what magic would do that, but as many Muggleborn and Muggle-raised witches and wizards had noted over the years, logic and the Wizarding world didn't seem to mix well.

* * *

Petunia was also spending what time she could in Dudley's 'wardrobe' studying magic and her business management courses, and those who remembered Lily smiled as they saw the same stubborn streak that had made Lily do everything she could to overcome anything that stood between her and her goals. Dumbledore had nobbled Arabella to make her fail out of Hogwarts at the end of her Third Year, and that was as far as Hagrid had gotten before he was expelled too so they were mainly revising the first three years, but Petunia put enough effort into her studies to keep up with them. She couldn't match them in any practical wand exercises, because they both had more magic than her, but she had the determination and intelligence to match them in everything else and that was enough to keep up.

Petunia's determination to be able to wave her results in Dumbledore's face and prove him wrong about her pushed Arabella and Hagrid to work harder as well, so the three of them sat their British OWLs soon after Sue, Neville and Megan did. They mainly got 'EE's and a couple of 'A's, but they each got at least one or two 'O's too, and given the fact that they'd managed to achieve that in just over three years of elapsed time, they were quite happy with their scores. Hagrid was even happier to get 'O's and 'EE's when he sat his NEWTs after the OWLs, as he'd been collecting and studying the text books, getting pointers from the teachers and practising with the dodgy wand he'd knocked up using his old wand core and a brolly for nearly fifty years and he'd covered most subjects up to the NEWTs.

Dudley was progressing more slowly, but he was still an eleven year old boy who hadn't managed to do much before so getting through the first three years' magical subjects in a bit over three years of elapsed time and doing well, especially as he was also in the top ten of his year at Stonewall after almost failing Primary school, was quite an achievement.

* * *

In normal Wizarding time though, they held the trial for the deaths of Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle before the end of the school year, but it didn't go to plan for Lucius Malfoy and Minister Fudge. While Malfoy was planning on Dumbledore taking all the blame for his Heir and the others' deaths, he was caught out when the Acting Chief Witch managed to convince the Wizengamot to accept Veritaserum testimonies and memories for the trial, and agree that _no-one_ involved was exempted from providing Veritaserum testimonies or memories. Malfoy's delusions of grandeur had made him forget one key fact, that he was no longer a Pureblood _Lord_, so he couldn't claim the exemptions that he and the other Pureblood _Lord__s _had had made into law after the war to protect themselves from being made to confess to what they'd done in the war.

At that time Lucius had indeed been Lord Malfoy by right of his wife's title, but that bastard Black had stripped Narcissa's title from her when he called for the dissolution of their marriage and recalled _everything_ given to Narcissa as dowry and wedding gifts, so her title now belonged to her Blood-traitor sister's Half-blood daughter, something Narcissa's sister seemed to be taunting him with as she smirked at him from the Potter box. He had to concede that Andromeda Tonks played the game well though, as she chose the box of whatever House she was representing which would have the most impact on the current session, and there could be no doubt that the Potter seat focussed the issue on the children at Hogwarts and was far more powerful than the others.

It wasn't too difficult to derail Malfoy's show of righteous indignation at his son and his friends 'murders' by raising the question of how the dark object which caused their deaths and other students' petrification got into Hogwarts. Amelia had played up the danger to all the students enough to get support from most of the Wizengamot to have Malfoy questioned under Veritaserum and made to provide the relevant memories when he refused to answer the question about what Tom Riddle from the diary was referring to when he mentioned him by name and implied that he'd failed to perform his duties properly. Anthony Abbott was silenced and bound when he started demanding that the memory be destroyed after hearing Riddle complaining about his twelve year old daughter not being a virgin, but he wouldn't be leaving the chamber until they got to the bottom of the discussion that young Duke Potter had witnessed at Kings Cross Station.

Lucius Malfoy's fate was sealed the moment he testified under Veritaserum that the diary he convinced the gullible Abbott would give the advice needed to coerce Harry Potter into breaking off his betrothal with the Mudblood so that he could be made to sign a betrothal with the Abbott family was in fact a way to bring his master, who he knew as Lord Voldemort, back to a corporeal state by draining the life out of whoever wrote in it, and that it was somehow related to opening Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets and releasing the monster. Of course Dumbledore, Fudge and Fudge's toad-like 'Senior Undersecretary' Delores Umbridge did everything they could to stop the proceedings, but the Druid Laws dictated clear and severe punishments for instigating something that could have easily wiped out most of Magical Britain's Most Ancient, Ancient and Noble Houses' next leaders. Anthony Abbott didn't fare much better when it was his turn, because even the Wizengamot laws were clear and decisive in regard to attempted line theft of Most Ancient or Ancient Houses and Families, especially if they were Noble.

The only thing that saved Hannah Abbott from the same fate was the fact that she was clueless, twelve and doing what her father told her, but she would be wearing the DMLE's tracking bracelets for the next ten years at least so they could monitor where she went and control her if necessary. Her life would be rather less comfortable than it had been prior to this though, because the Abbott Family had lost the Baronet and holdings that made it a Minor House and most of its family fortune. The prospect of a betrothal or good marriage for her had also been destroyed by the memories they viewed in an attempt to absolve her of being a willing and knowing part of the line theft attempt that had her father kissed by a dementor, because the silly little tart couldn't help thinking about what she'd willingly and eagerly done in broom closets with various boys when the memories were being taken. These memories not only confirmed that a magical betrothal was not in her future because she was definitely no virgin, they pretty much guaranteed that most houses would never allow her sons to marry her, as the Half-blood daughter of a disgraced house of reduced circumstances who was well on her way to becoming the new Molly Prewett was not something most houses were prepared to have their names associated with.

Narcissa Rosier (after Sirius called for the dissolution of her marriage and cast her out of the House of Black she'd reverted to her mother's maiden name) was also a victim of drastically reduced circumstances, as the House of Malfoy was eradicated in Magical Britain and its Baronet and just about everything it had left was forfeited to Lucius' victims. Narcissa got a small cottage and a modest stipend that would allow her to live comfortably enough if she gave up her pretensions of being a society lady.

* * *

Using information from Malfoy's testimony, they managed to force a number of lesser Death Eaters like Crabbe and Goyle to testify under Veritaserum and they were also sentenced to go through the Veil of Death for their crimes. Like Malfoy, their fortunes and any titles they held were forfeited, and where they were the heads of their houses or families they were eradicated in Magical Britain, but once again those with money and influence got off scot free, which Harry and the others were sick and tired of seeing.

The Wizengamot's refusal to accept any wrong doing on Dumbledore's part yet again infuriated Harry, and the most they could do to Minister I-Never-Met-a-Galleon-I-didn't-Like Fudge for taking seven bent Aurors to Hogwarts to illegally drag Hagrid off to Azkaban without a trial on Malfoy's orders was permanently remove his dedicated Auror bodyguards on the basis that continued exposure to nefarious elements in the Minister's office had been proven to corrupt the integrity of the Aurors assigned to his office. The fact that the said bodyguards and five other associated Aurors who had accompanied them on an unsanctioned and illegal operation were all sentenced to serve time in Azkaban was accepted as proof of this. When Umbridge demanded to know when the Minister's proper bodyguards were going to be replaced, trying to make mileage on Amelia in front of the Wizengamot, Amelia told her that the bodyguard duties had been formalised as part of the Patrol Officers' schedules, as that would be the on-going arrangement.

The Toad gave her a perfect opportunity to put her in her place when she screamed that nothing short of Senior Aurors were suitable to watch the Minister… "The duty of Senior Aurors is to protect Magical Britain from Dark Witches and Wizards Miss Umbridge. Are you formally advising the Wizengamot that Minister Fudge is in fact a Dark Wizard? If so we are required to launch an official investigation into the matter."

"What? No, of course not! I never said any such thing! I was merely pointing out that the safety of the Minister is of the utmost importance and therefore we must have suitably qualified Aurors to protect him."

"I must have missed it Miss Umbridge, when was it that you were an Auror or Magical Law Enforcement Patrol Officer in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement again?"

"What are you talking about? I have never been an Auror or MLE Patrol Officer!"

"Exactly! If you had, you would know that Aurors are not trained to be bodyguards, they are specifically trained for and tasked with hunting down and dealing with Dark Witches and Wizards. The DMLE personnel who have the most appropriate training and experience to protect the Minister or anyone else are the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol Officers that the DMLE is assigning to serve as the Minister's bodyguards. And quite aside from having the wrong skills to serve as bodyguards, Senior Aurors are the highest paid DMLE officers because of their specialised skillsets, experience and dangerous duties allowances. The Minister's office has being reducing the DMLE's budget ever since the war, using the justification that the dangers of the war no longer exist, so tying up two of the dozen Senior Aurors we have left by having them sit outside the Minister's office twiddling their thumbs is both a waste of precious resources and putting the rest of Magical Britain at risk for no good reason. The DMLE will assign the most appropriate personnel where required Miss Umbridge, do _not_ presume to try and order me or my department about again!"

Umbridge was winding herself up to another tirade so the Acting Chief Witch ordered her silenced and bound, then used the fact that she had a captive audience. "I have to wonder what criteria was used to select you for the Minister's Undersecretary's position Miss Umbridge, because you appear to know hardly anything of what a witch in your position is required to. I would suggest that you read the Ministry's regulations and get a proper understanding of both your and the Director of the DMLE's rights and responsibilities post haste Miss Umbridge…. Because if you attempt to interfere with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement again, Director Bones will have ample grounds to bring you to trial and that could well lead to you being incarcerated in Azkaban alongside the Minister's disgraced bodyguards and those other thugs who you seem to be so enamoured with. Consider this your one and only warning!"

As soon as she was released, Umbridge jumped up and shouted that she didn't have to take this from her then stormed out, muttering unintelligible threats under her breath.

Once she'd left the Chief Witch looked at Fudge. "Minister Fudge, I would strongly suggest that you make it a priority to either get your Undersecretary under control or dismiss her, unless you want to be dragged into the trouble she seems determined to make for herself. And as you made no attempt to prevent her making those ridiculous and totally unacceptable demands of Director Bones on your behalf or disrespecting me, I would suggest that you read the Ministry's regulations yourself, because in case you have forgotten, _you_ are also required to comply with them, just as every other member of the Ministry is."

Fudge scurried off, worried about the threat he read in that warning, which left the way clear for the final item of the session, restitution for the wizard who was almost framed for opening the Chamber of Secrets and being responsible for students' deaths a second time in less than fifty years. Most of the Wizengamot knew Rubeus Hagrid from Hogwarts, but they wouldn't have recognised him if it wasn't for the fact that he was still over twice the height and four times the size of most of them, and his voice if not speech remained the same. Dumbledore couldn't believe that this was the same oaf he'd kept on as the gamekeeper at Hogwarts for nearly half a century because his hair and beard were neatly trimmed, he had trimmed down considerably and was dressed in respectable robes, which bore the Potter crest to indicate that he was a vassal of that house as Potter had told him.

It didn't take anything more than Harry's memory of what Riddle told him and Hagrid's own memories of what happened in Forty Three to get Hagrid cleared of the previous charges and have his expulsion and ban on having a wand and using magic in Magical Britain revoked (Their magic lessons inside the trunks were effectively in the Goblin Nation, not Magical Britain, and Hogwarts' original designation as an autonomous entity from Magical Britain to protect it from political interference was never officially revoked.), plus Fifty Thousand Galleons compensation for being almost framed twice and unfairly expelled.

None of the family were at all surprised that Dumbledore used his (part time recently) position as the Chief Warlock to stop them forcing him to show his own memories of the events in Forty Three. They had fun watching him panic at Hagrid's response though when when the Acting Chief Witch queried him on the remarkable change in his appearance and manner. "It was my liege Lord, Duke Potter Ma'am. He was concerned that there was something wrong with me when he took me under his protection because his parents' letters had described me as a good friend, so he insisted that I be examined by healers and they discovered bindings on my intellect and magic and numerous memory and compulsion charms on me. The Duke had them remove the bindings and charms as he'd already had similar bindings removed from himself and he and his friends have been working with me since then to help me improve myself. The bindings, memory charms and compulsions had apparently been on going ever since I started at Hogwarts in Nineteen Forty and the guilty party is believed to be at Hogwarts, so the Department of Magical Law Enforcement advised me to try to cover up any changes until now because they were investigating who did this to me Ma'am."

The Chief Witch and a number of others in the chamber turned to look at Dumbledore when he said that and saw him squirming, so she asked Hagrid whether he was planning on finishing his magical education now.

"Yes Ma'am, you see while I was banned from practising magic in Britain, the way I saw it was that ban only applied to using a wand 'cause that's the restriction placed on the Goblins, and I wasn't restricted from _learning_ about magic. So I've been reading all the books on magic I could since then and practising whatever I could without a wand…. And I have also been practising with a wand outside of Magical Britain. The healers told me that I'd been fighting against the bindings and restrictions all along and apparently they had been reapplied several times after I managed to break through them but everything came back when they were removed."

She wished him luck with his endeavours, and then Harry presented him with the wand they'd had custom made to match him in France. Few missed the warning look Harry sent Dumbledore's way as he did that.

* * *

Dumbledore either missed or ignored Harry's warning though, because when Hagrid went back to Hogwarts, he tried to fire him because he wouldn't allow anyone being loyal to anyone but himself in Hogwarts. They were waiting for this though, so the matter was taken straight to the Hogwarts Board. After the others on the Board had vetoed them getting rid of Dumbledore without irrefutable proof, it wasn't too difficult to turn their own arguments against them to stop them firing Hagrid without cause and take hiring and firing rights off of the Headmaster.

Hagrid had passed both his OWLs and NEWTs and been accepted to start working on his masteries in Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology under Xeno Lovegood inside the next month, so he was more qualified than some of the so-called Professors at Hogwarts. Sirius and Amelia used that to correct the blatant bigotry of having a totally unskilled _Human_ Squib caretaker with fewer and far more basic duties being paid twice as much as the Part-Giant Wizard gamekeeper with three years of formal magical training who was recognised across the Magical world for having considerable specialised knowledge of magical creatures, so Hogwarts was made to pay Hagrid over forty years worth of salary adjustments. After he had his NEWTs and had been accepted as Xeno's apprentice, Hagrid was being paid the same as Aberforth had been when he was working on getting his masteries and between the back pay and the compensation payment, the newly recognised Head of the Ancient Druid Family of Hagrid was quite well off. Needless to say, Dumbledore and the Pureblood bigots on the Board weren't at all happy about being made to pay that much to someone they denigrated as a Half-breed, and Dumbledore was even less happy about having to put up with Argus Filch's constant screeching tirades ever since he was told that his salary was being halved.

* * *

After losing face in what was known as the Chamber of Secrets trials, they caught Dumbledore trying to sneak laws through in Wizengamot sessions that would allow him to override the laws that prevented him from commandeering the basilisk and everything else in the Chamber of Secrets. When they blocked these new 'laws' from going through, Dumbledore finally got desperate enough to blast through the wall of Myrtle's toilets, and Harry got his wish, seeing the recording from the goblin crystal hidden in Myrtle's toilets of Dumbledore demolishing everything in a temper tantrum when he discovered soil and rocks where he was expecting to find a large pipe leading down under Black Lake to the Chamber of Secrets.

That was enough to make the old fool publicly accuse Harry in the Great Hall of _stealing_ the contents of the Chamber of Secrets which rightfully belonged to Hogwarts, which was what Harry had been waiting for. When he leapt to his feet, just about everyone in the Great Hall could feel the wild magic roiling about him, so it went silent as they waited for an explosion. Most of them were surprised and a little disappointed that he sounded in control as he called out. "Professor McGonagall, would you do me the honour of reminding Professor Dumbledore what I showed and told him when he called me to his office well after curfew on the night after I rescued Miss Abbott from the Chamber of Secrets please?"

"Certainly Duke Potter, you showed Professor Dumbledore the ring which confirmed that you have been magically accepted as Earl Slytherin, Head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Slytherin, reminded him that the History of Magic confirmed that the Chamber of Secrets was created as something private to Salazar Slytherin and therefore totally separate from Hogwarts and advised him that it was located outside the boundaries of Hogwarts and that you would fight anyone who attempted to steal what rightfully belonged to the House of Slytherin in the Wizengamot and on the duelling floor."

Harry bowed to her. "Thank you Professor McGonagall."

Then he turned to Dumbledore. "Well Dumbledore, we defeated your attempt to steal what rightfully belongs to the House of Slytherin in the Wizengamot, so I presume that the fact that you attempted to physically get to the Chamber of Secrets to steal what does not belong to you and have now had the gall to accuse me of stealing my own property means that you wish to face me in an Honour Duel?"

Most of them could see Dumbledore going pale, and the family members in the Great Hall knew what had come out of the Chamber of Secrets trials, so they were betting that he was now remembering Hagrid's comments about Harry getting the bindings on his magic removed and that Harry now was now the master of the Elder Wand as he watched the magic roiling around Harry. Dumbledore made a desperate attempt to bluff his way out of this. "Don't be ridiculous boy! You're nothing but a child, there would be no honour in the Greatest Wizard of the age defeating a silly little boy like you!"

The grim smile Harry gave him at that made everyone between them scrabble to get out of the way.

"Oh, don't worry about that Dumbledore, I'm not as young as I seem..." With that, he clicked his fingers and dispelled the glamour so that he suddenly stood there as his natural auburn haired seventeen year old self, a foot taller and much better built. "You see my advisors felt that it would be more prudent to maintain the false image of me that you peddled to the Magical world for the ten years you left me buried in the Non Magical World as a human house elf so that we could work out what you were up to. As you can see, I am no longer a little boy and I have reclaimed my wand from you, so you won't need to hold back."

Dumbledore fell back on his old fail safe. "What Dark and unnatural rituals have you used to change yourself this much Potter? You have obviously taken those young witches' innocence and purity to advance your Dark plans!"

Hermione and Luna leapt to their feet as well, removing their own glamours and turning on the tears as they did so. "Please make him pay for these insults to our honour My Lord! This _beast_ has publicly accused Lady Luna and myself of having given up our innocence and virtue! I implore you to defend our honour!"

Harry was laughing at Hermione over their link for watching Gone With the Wind too often as he 'comforted' her and Luna then turned to the High Table. "Professor Flitwick! Would you do me the honour of setting up the duelling wards and being referee for us please? My Lady Hermione is absolutely correct, this slur on her and Lady Luna's Honour will not be borne! I may have been prepared to agree to arbitration for the House of Slytherin matters but not _this_!"

Just then another voice spoke up from the doors of the Great Hall. "I quite agree Duke Potter! I was called here to attempt to convince you to accept reconciliation on the Chamber of Secrets matter, but this disgusting slur on the ladies' honour is unconscionable! Professor Flitwick, may I offer my assistance to set up the duelling wards?"

Filius bowed to her. "Thank you Madam Bones, I would be delighted to work with you to create the wards, and I would be honoured to act as your referee Duke Potter."

Dumbledore's knees started shaking when Harry caught his eye and made it clear that he was going to make him suffer as he'd never suffered before for doing that to Hermione and Luna. He tried calling silently for Fawkes to get him out of there, then called out loud a number of times, getting louder and more desperate each time until Fawkes finally appeared in a flash of flame. There was no mistaking the disgust she was expressing in her squawk at Dumbledore as she stayed just out of his reach, then flashed away, and it was clear to most in the hall that she was leaving him in disgust. Looking over at the main doors of the Great Hall, it was plain to see that he wasn't getting out that way either because the Aurors who came with Bones had formed a barrier across the doorway.

It was only when he was pulled out of searching for a way out by Potter barking "Dumbledore! Get down here and face me you pig!" that he realised that Flitwick and Bones had already created the wards and Potter was waiting inside them.

He was forced to accept that he had to face the boy, man, whatever he was, so he trudged down off the dais and to the duelling wards as if he was heading for the gallows, because he believed in his heart of hearts that that was exactly what he was doing.

Harry was talking to Hermione and Luna over their link and assuring them that he wasn't going to kill the old bastard, just hurt and thoroughly humiliate him, adding with a mental chuckle that they may want to look away if they didn't want their stomachs turned. Hermione regretted asking what he was going to do, because he sent her an image of a singed, naked Dumbledore.

* * *

Dumbledore stumbled as he entered the bounds of the duelling wards because he'd looked up and seen Potter with a wand in each hand. The transformed Elder Wand was in his dominant hand, but the wand in his off hand wasn't the holly and phoenix feather wand he'd gotten from Ollivander, so he didn't know what it was. He wished that he could believe that his having two wands was just for show, but he somehow _knew_ that Potter would be able to use both simultaneously. He had to keep up appearances though, so he pulled out one of his backup wands and held it in his off hand.

Harry casually leaned out of the way of or batted away the hexes and curses that Dumbledore was throwing at him with increasing desperation for a while, taunting him in Mermish to goad him into tiring himself out, as Mermish was a language that Dumbledore prided himself as being one of the rare few to have truly mastered. Then, when he started to flag, Harry smiled at him and cast a lightning fast bludgeoner that pulverised his off hand and destroyed his backup wand. He waited until it registered on Dumbledore that he'd been playing with him and could have easily destroyed him right from the start, and then he did, throwing a furious barrage of hexes and curses simultaneously from both the Elder Wand and his mother's wand, each hitting exactly where he intended and with precisely enough force to _hurt_, but not leave any permanent damage.

~~~~~ Warning, disturbing image follows ~~~~~

He finished with a momentary flash of a little known even hotter variant of Fiendfyre that could have easily burnt Dumbledore to a crisp if it had been held for more than an instant, but all it did as it licked around him was burn away his clothes, outer layers of skin and every hair on his body. Harry followed it immediately with an Aguamenti to wash off the charred remnants and cool his skin, leaving Dumbledore standing there white (he would be red-skinned when his body had time to catch up with what had happened, but that would take at least thirty seconds), hairless, naked and dripping in all his…. Glory, and then casually turned his back on him and walked away from the old man who was too broken to present any threat as Professor Flitwick dropped the duelling wards.

* * *

He went to where Hermione and Luna were standing near the doors and hugged them, then turned back to face the Great Hall. "We have had it with the thievery, corruption and bigotry that is all too rampant in Magical Britain so we are leaving until things like _that_..." He flicked a hand in Dumbledore's direction without looking, and most of the people in the Great Hall were trying not to look that way either. "Have been purged and Magical Britain is worth living in. All of you who agree with _that_.." Waving at Dumbledore again. "In believing that it is somehow _my_ duty to save you from Voldemort again when he returns can get stuffed! For a start, it wasn't _me_ who stopped Voldemort last time, it was what my mother, who half of you would have reviled for being a _Mudblood_, did to protect me that stopped him, and even if Dumbledore and Voldemort want to believe that some so called prophecy that that drunken sot up there made up to try and get a job says that _I_ am the one who must stop Voldemort, why the hell should I? Most of you _Purebloods_ look down on me for having a mother who came from the Non Magical world, even though my Mum was far better than any of you, and you look down on Hermione for being like Mum and Luna for being different, and they're better than all of you too! So if your terrible _Lord_ Voldemort, who was really a common Mudblood by the name of Tom Marvolo Riddle, comes back, get off your arses and deal with him yourselves because I'm not going to do it for you! _**He's. Not. My. Problem!**_ He's a problem that _your_ stupid bigotry created, so you can clean up your own mess! I'm just glad that we have Regents who can stomach you lot enough to stay here and handle our business for us, because I certainly can't!"

He stopped and turned to Amelia, continuing at a lower volume but most of the hall could still hear because everyone was too shocked to speak. "I hope that you understand that I do not include the House of Bones or our other allies in my comments Madam Bones, but the insults and expectations have just gotten too much for us. As I said, Magical Britain will see us when it has gotten rid of the scum like that..." waving at Dumbledore again " And the Death Eaters and their toadies who run the Ministry. Well it may see us sooner than that if anyone else tries to do what Dumbledore did and try to take what is rightfully our's, but if anyone is that stupid, I will tear them and everything they believe in apart, when I'm finished all that will remain will be the wailing of their ancestors. The scum of Magical Britain have taken too much from our families and our allies, I will _not_ allow them to take anything more from us! As my Regent is not here, may I prevail upon you to remind the Ministry and the Wizengamot that the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter and its Associated Houses, my Betrotheds' and Godfather's Houses between them have the power to bankrupt Magical Britain and leave it destitute, and we will do so if anyone tries to take anything that is our's?"

He could see that Amelia was trying to cover up her smirk as she looked over his shoulder at the expressions of shock and horror on the faces across the Great Hall. "I truly hope that it does not get to that Duke Potter, but I will tell them, and that the House of Bones…." Neville called out "_And Longbottom!_" "And Longbottom will be standing with you if it does…. But for now, I am afraid that you have done the poor souls in this hall a disservice and we need to remove that disgusting sight that you left behind you before everyone is turned off their food!"

Harry was fiddling with his watch as he bowed, and Hermione and Luna took his arms as he straightened. "I do apologise for creating that image Madam Bones, but I'm afraid that my temper got away from me due to the disgusting slur that creature made against Lady Hermione and Lady Luna's honour! I will not hold you from your duties any longer and wish you a good night..." With that he pressed the rune that activated the portkey to take them to Potter Manor and they disappeared.

Amelia shook her head, but only the Aurors were close enough to hear her mutter. "He may be more like Lily and much more polished most of the time, but that boy is definitely his father's son!"

She flashed a grateful smile at Minerva for conjuring a cloak to cover Dumbledore's nakedness as soon as Harry and the girls had flashed away and calling an elf to pop him off to Poppy's infirmary.

It was amusing to hear that, while it had been stomach turning, Dumbledore's naked form at the front of the Great Hall hardly rated a mention in the maelstrom of discussions that swept through the hall as soon as the three left. The shallow ones were discussing how incredible those three had looked in their true forms, many others were trying to dissect Harry's performance on the duelling floor, but the majority of the discussion was about what Harry had said before they left.

At most of the tables, students were scribbling down what he'd said while it was still clear in their minds, and some of the staff were too. Some were shuddering at the thought that the event which could bring about the fall of Magical Britain was the result of the actions of the Wizard that most of Magical Britain had all but worshipped for at least half a century, but seeing the way his phoenix abandoned him in disgust and then watching him being destroyed by the Boy-Who-Lived for that disgusting slur on his betrotheds' honour made it hard for them to respect Albus Dumbledore any more… Few had missed the fact that Harry hadn't cared about the accusations thrown at him about using Dark rituals, but he was incensed when Dumbledore attacked his ladies…. That line 'when I'm finished all that will remain will be the wailing of their ancestors' sent shivers down people's spines though, because it sounded like the harbinger of doom. There wasn't an owl left in the castle within thirty minutes of Harry and the girls' leaving, because everyone was trying to get word to their families about this momentous event straight away.

* * *

At Potter Manor, Harry and the girls couldn't stop laughing, but Hermione was poking him in the chest as she said. "I'm watching Gone With the Wind too often am I? What's that say about you and Old Testament movies then? I almost had to bite my tongue off to stop myself laughing at your 'all that will remain will be the wailing of their ancestors' line!"

"Come on! I thought it had a good ring to it and I could see out of the corner of my eye that they were lapping it up…. Besides which, it was actually from a western, the original line was something like 'all that will be heard is the wailing of their women' as I remember. That aside though, I was serious about what I said to Auntie Ami, if the Purebloods try to take what's our's I'll destroy them. Uncle Gringott quite likes the idea of having Magical Britain go back to being just the Druids and the fae actually, because the people's records show that everything was much more peaceful and happier when it was like that a thousand years ago."

A few hours later, most of the family were at the Manor. Amelia shook her head tiredly at Harry. "Well you've certainly thrown the kneazle among the pigeons young man! The entire Wizengamot was called in for an emergency session tonight because of what you did and said. On the upside, after watching your duel with Dumbledore, no one wants to even blink in your direction, or Hermione, Luna, Susan, Neville or Megan's either for that matter, so I suppose I should be thanking you for that because Susie should be safer…. But _o__n the other hand_…. You have the Wizengamot and especially the Ministry terrified! The way you destroyed Dumbledore has convinced them that Dumbledore is right and you _are_ the only one who has any hope of stopping Voldemort, so they're desperate to find some way to stop you leaving. Some of them were actually suggesting burning Dumbledore and some of the others you referred to at the stake to try and convince you that they'll do whatever you want…."

She pointed at Sirius, who perked up at that idea. "_**Don't**_ encourage him! We're not going to allow _anyone_ to be burnt at the stake, not even Dumbledore! At the moment I've got nearly everyone in the DMLE out guarding witches and wizards who are convinced they're going to be dead by the morning."

"I actually had Fudge on his knees, begging me for protection from the ones who want to sacrifice him to appease the God of Vengeance…. Yes, he actually called you that and he wasn't the only one. More than a few of the ones who have made derogatory comments to or about you, Hermione or Luna wet themselves and more while they were watching that duel…. And why in the name of the Gods did you come out with that wailing of their ancestors line? Half of them are calling you the Prophet of Doom and thinking that the world is going to end now! For a boy who doesn't believe in prophecies you've got quite a knack for coming out with lines that sure sound like one!"

Hermione sniggered. "I thought it sounded very Old Testament, but according to him, he was just paraphrasing a line out of a western!"

Amelia shook her head again. "I think the only one who was happy when we left that session was Tiberius Ogden, because he's raking in a mountain of gold from all the Firewhiskey people are drinking to try and get the image of a naked, hairless Albus Dumbledore out of their heads. You better believe that I'll be sending you the bill for whatever it takes _me_ to get that image out of my head! Poppy wouldn't let them drag Dumbledore out of the Infirmary tonight, so they've called another session tomorrow to make him explain what the hell he thought he was doing and work out how they can smooth things over with you."

It was Harry's turn to shake his head tiredly. "Most of them have the attention span of a goldfish Auntie Ami, by tomorrow they'll be back to believing that he's infallible and coming after me for attacking 'the great man' like that. I think that Hermione, Luna and I need to leave tonight, go off to one of my properties overseas and use the official channels to get there so that they know we've really left." He turned to the girls. "Any preferences ladies?"

Hermione looked at Luna as they tossed a few ideas back and forth. They eventually decided that they'd seen all the European properties, and they were too close to Britain anyway, but they hadn't seen the American ones yet. Luna pointed out that it would make more sense to hop across to their apartment in Paris and then use the French Portkey office to avoid any chance of being detained in the Ministry's one.

Harry was quite happy to agree to that, but he turned to Auntie Andi. "They need to be made to understand that I was quite serious about destroying anyone who tries to take what's ours though Auntie Andi. Do we have anything in place that we can use to destroy a few of the Minor or Noble Houses that have tried to cheat us or refuse to repay their debts?"

Andi gave him a feral smile. "You're a sweet boy Harry, but every now and then you come out with something that proves you're a true Black…. Yes, I'm sure that between Ted, Gringott and I we can manage to wipe out enough of the houses who have crossed us for the rest to get the message that it's a _very_ bad idea to try and cheat your or the girls' houses, and make a profit of course, with at least one or two of them being big enough to prove that we have the power to take on anyone we need to. While you're correct about their attention spans, their survival instincts are strong enough to ensure that they remember who to avoid crossing, and I'll have fun making sure that they understand that the God of Vengeance and his Goddesses are most definitely in that category."

They all laughed at him when Harry grimaced at that name. "Hey, you always say that you hate being called the Boy Who Lived because you didn't do anything to earn the title, well everyone saw you earn the title of the God of Vengeance when you utterly destroyed the wizard they believed to be the most wizard powerful since Merlin and the vanquisher of Dark Lords without even breaking a sweat… or we _could_ use the Prophet of Doom if you prefer that?" Andi smirked at the horrified expression on Harry's face when she said that. "Okay, we'll leave it as the God of Vengeance then shall we?"

She just laughed when he muttered. "You're evil!"

* * *

It didn't take long to agree that Patty and Dora would be accompanying Harry, Hermione and Luna, then everyone got changed, shrunk their trunks and put them in their mokeskin pouches before stepping through the Goblin Floo into Harry's apartment in Paris. It was just a short stroll from there to the Ministère des Affaires Magiques de la France building where they arranged for an International Portkey to take them to the MACUSA Headquarters in New York, using their British Magical Passports (they had citizenship in a number of Magical countries all over the world) so that the British Ministry of Magic would be notified that they'd taken a portkey to America. As soon as they arrived in the MACUSA Headquarters they immediately portkeyed away to the Potters' brownstone a couple of blocks away in case the British Ministry sent anyone to try and talk them into or force them to return to Britain. The Potters maintained residences close to all the Magical Government Headquarters but they didn't want to take the risk of walking there in case they were followed, the fidelius charm was still up but anyone following would be able to identify where they disappeared and stake out the area to catch them when they came out.

Efa, Emyr and their familiars were all at the house when they arrived, because they'd just used the Goblin Floo.


	8. Breathing Room

**This chapter jumps all over the place in parts, because they're jumping all over the place. There is also some angry dialogue with the type of language one would expect in angry dialogue. **

**Usual disclaimers, no rights to anything from JKR's stories.**

Dumbledore played up his injuries from the duel so it was over a week before they got him before the Wizengamot. That gave him time to rally his supporters and spread rumours about Harry, so when he was finally assisted into the Wizengamot chamber (using the lurid colours of his robes to emphasise how pale and hairless he was rather than just showing off his lack of taste as he normally did), he had most of the Wizengamot on his side.

It had also given the family time to prepare though. Harry, Hermione and Luna had sat their first few mastery exams with the international associations and they were processed as a matter of urgency so that their results would be available, and Susan, Neville and Megan had sat their British and ICW OWLs, with their results being fast tracked as well.

This meant that they were ready when the Old Goat Molester sorrowfully announced in front of the Wizengamot that Harry Potter had obviously been possessed by Lord Voldemort in the attack on that fateful Halloween, because the fact that he had used Dark rituals that aged him and the two witches he was supposedly betrothed to and increased his power significantly as everyone had seen in the Great Hall at Hogwarts was _proof_ that he had turned _**Dark**_, his voice and manner evoking images of a descent into the pits of darkness.

The Wizengamot wasn't exactly shocked when Sirius Black burst out laughing at that statement, because it had been commonly held that he wasn't much more stable than his cousin Bellatrix Lestrange _before_ the ten years he spent in Azkaban, and that would have been enough to push anyone over the edge…. But when his cousin Baroness Andromeda Tonks, Barrister of Law in both Magical Britain and the ICW's courts, Steward of the Most Noble and Most Ancient Druid House of Black and its Associated Houses and Regent for the Most Noble and Most Ancient Druid House of Potter and its Associated Houses, the Noble and Ancient Druid House of Dagworth-Granger and its Associated Houses and the Noble and Ancient Druid House of Lovegood and its Associated Houses, who had proven herself to be one of the most powerful, politically astute and ruthless witches and legal minds in Magical Britain, if not the Magical World, did the same, everyone wondered what was coming.

There was no humour in Andi's voice when she spoke, with scorn dripping from her tongue. "All I'm hearing from you old man is blah, blah, blah, _**She's a witch! Burn her! **_Our people have been persecuted and slaughtered for millennia by silver tongued abominations like you….. Foul creatures who do whatever they can to ensure that others never learn the truth so that they are able to use their fears to manipulate them into doing their bidding…. And I am enraged that the rest of this esteemed body would allow _this_ one to worm his way into our midst, wearing rich robes bought with the blood and suffering of others just as those Christian priests did, and make unfounded accusations about the head of one of the oldest and most respected families of our world without demanding one shred of proof of what he claims!"

The image she evoked had at least half of the chamber whispering furiously to each other as they suddenly remembered stories from their own family histories of ancestors who had been lost to the witch hunts and mobs, because she'd struck fast enough to sow doubt before the accusations were accepted as fact. The rest were so enamoured with Dumbledore that they couldn't accept any suggestion that his word was not law, but she had managed to get half of them to at least consider that what he said may not in fact be set in stone, and charged ahead while she had them in the right frame of mind. "Even if we leave aside the fact that Duke Potter's parents, the previous Duke and Duchess Potter, were widely acknowledged as being among the most powerful wizards and witches of their generation, so only a fool would not expect Duke Potter to be powerful, it is ludicrous to state that the _only _possible explanation for Duke Potter and his _magically accepted_ betrothed to have gotten the opportunity to properly prepare themselves to face the Dark Lords they oppose can be Dark Rituals! Can no one here think of any other means to give them the extra time they need to prepare for this?"

This was Earl Longbottom's prompt to stand and speak. "Goblin Time Chambers! Which is _exactly_ what Duke Potter, my Heir and the rest of our children have been using to ready themselves for the trials ahead, and Lady Longbottom and I have also used to recover from ten years of our supposed _**care**_ in Saint Mungo's, which we now know was in fact intended to _**prevent**_ us from recovering from our ordeal!"

At that Neville stood beside his father and dropped the goblin glamour that was keeping his appearance as that of a chubby almost twelve year old, so he was revealed to be a fit and healthy fifteen and a half year old with a noble bearing. Sue and Megan stood in the gallery and dropped their glamours as well so they showed themselves to be a little older than Neville and just as fit, healthy and noble.

Andi bowed her head to Frank, Neville and the girls regally. "Thank you Lord Longbottom, and you as well Heir Longbottom, Countess Bones and Lady Jones. Yes, last August, when Duke Potter returned to our world after ten years of unlawful imprisonment, forced slavery and abuse at the hands of relatives who unwillingly took him in when he was left on their doorstep in the middle of a cold November night in Nineteen Eighty One, the House of Potter and its allies successfully negotiated with the Goblin Nation of Britain for the on going use of some of its time chambers and portkeys to allow Duke Potter and his betrothed and Heir Longbottom and his betrothed to spend every free hour they have had since before the start of the last school year in those time chambers being trained by tutors accredited by the International Confederation of Wizards to face the trials ahead of them, so that they might have a chance to survive when they were forced to confront the Dark Lords they oppose. That is why Mister Dumbledore's unfounded accusations about Duke Potter using dark rituals and the fact that the people of Magical Britain are apparently ready to accept those accusations as fact without a shred of proof being offered are such an affront to the House of Potter. How can _any_ of you have the gall to expect Duke Potter to fight your battles for you when you are so ready to accept the baseless accusations this man, who has done more to harm him than any other, makes against him without question?"

They could see that this salvo had had quite an effect, because over three quarters of the chamber were now whispering furiously to each other and Dumbledore was looking extremely pissed off.

* * *

Dumbledore tried again. "Alas…. I fear that this merely proves that I was correct. You have obviously been confounded by Mister Potter, or rather Voldemort pretending to be Mister Potter, Madam Tonks, and he must have taken advantage of your reduced state to do the same to you Lord Longbottom, as it is a documented fact that the Goblins do not allow wizards access to their own magics, and I have it on good authority that their rumoured time chambers are no more than myths..."

The chamber broke out in a spate of of shouts as Dumbledore's supporters agreed with him and many of the traditionalists tried to use this as an opportunity to denigrate both Frank and Andi. The family took note of precisely who said what as they waited for the cacophony to die down. When it appeared that they weren't likely to get anything more of note from it, Amelia spoke up and cut across all the noise. "And what of _me_ Mister Dumbledore? Do you claim that I am _also_ so feeble minded to have been confounded by the young Duke Potter, who you so blithely accuse of being a Dark Lord?"

That caught him off guard. "What? What do you mean Madam Bones?"

"It appears that we must question _your_ faculties and capability to fulfil your duties Mister Dumbledore, if you have completely missed the fact that Countess Bones, my niece and ward, has with my wholehearted approval and agreement been training for the last ten months in the goblin time chambers that I assisted _Lady_ Tonks in negotiating with the Goblin Nation for the use of as the Regents of the Houses of Potter, Dagwoth Granger, Lovegood and Bones. So if you are accusing Lady Tonks and Lord Longbottom of being confounded by the young Duke Potter, who you accuse of being a Dark Lord without showing any proof whatsoever, you must be accusing me, the Director of Magical Britain's Department of Magical Law Enforcement, of being feeble minded enough to have been confounded by him as well! Be advised that I will be having myself thoroughly tested for any signs of compounding, compulsion or memory charms being applied and or removed from me by trusted and recognised mind healers and will be presenting their findings to the Wizengamot to disprove your accusations, and I believe that Lady Tonks and Lord Longbottom would be willing to do the same?"

Andi and Frank nodded firmly, with Frank adding. "Indeed Director Bones! I for one will not allow any doubts about my capacity to fulfil my duties as Head of the House of Longbottom on the basis of these _additional_ unfounded accusations from Dumbledore to fester! When we have proof that you have falsely accused us Dumbledore, the House of Longbottom will be demanding restitution for this!..."

Sirius spoke up at that point. "As will the House of Black for its Steward, and I expect the House of Potter and other Houses that Baroness Tonks is Regent for!"

Frank nodded and continued. "Forgive me if I am foreshadowing your next point Director Bones, but does not Lady Tonks have certified copies of the magically accepted agreements you and she negotiated with the Goblin Nation for the use of their time chambers?"

"Not at all Lord Longbottom, in my anger at the unfounded and heinous charges being so casually thrown about here without a shred of proof, I had quite forgotten that Lady Tonks has _proof_ of the time chamber agreements… Lady Tonks, while I understand that it is unlikely, given that these wild accusations were raised out of the blue by Dumbledore, would you happen to have your copies of these contracts with you?"

Andi was throwing a vicious smile of triumph at Dumbledore as she responded to Amelia. "As a matter of fact I _do_ Director Bones! When I spoke to Duke Potter about this, he expressed his concerns that certain parties would be attempting to twist the facts of the matter in order to portray themselves in a better light, and therefore I have brought any and all documents that I believed could be relevant to the matters at hand with me." With that she dug out and held up some documents which the magic of the chamber transferred to the clerk of the court, who quickly used the court's magic to validate and copy them, then return the originals to Andi, who in turn gave him a nod of recognition for the courtesy.

He sent a copy of the documents to the Acting Chief Witch's bench, and Dumbledore didn't like the grim smile on her face as she nodded and announced that the documents did indeed confirm that the Houses of Potter, Dagworth-Granger, Lovegood and Bones had negotiated for the on-going use of the Goblin Nation's time chambers for the Heads of their Houses, and that Heir Longbottom and Lady Megan Jones had been added to the list of people included in the agreement when they began at Hogwarts, along with Lord and Lady Longbottom for their recovery period and a number of other witches and wizards.

Dumbledore spoke up firmly. "I wish to see these supposed contracts Madam Marchbanks..."

But she cut him off. "You are required to address me as Madam Chief Witch or My Lady Chief Witch when I am sitting as Chief Witch Mister Dumbledore! And in that capacity, I require _you_ to explain your demand! Are you questioning the magic of the court's ability to validate the documents presented for _magically_ accepted contracts, the Wizengamot's Clerk of the Court's competence to perform his duties or me in my capacity as Chief Witch's competence to understand the contents of these documents? Remember that you are here in no official capacity other than to answer the Wizengamot's questions about your actions Mister Dumbledore!" She waited for a while and then snapped. "Well? As the Chief Witch of this Wizengamot session, I have required you to explain yourself Mister Dumbledore! Do so now!"

He was seething as he tried to reply civilly. "My apologies Madam Chief Witch, I was dubious of the possible authenticity of the submitted documents and merely wished to examine them for myself, no slight was intended. I stand by my previous statement however, all available evidence shows that the goblins' fabled time chambers are nothing more than a myth, so Madam Tonks and Madam Bones must have been tricked by the goblins. The goblins are obviously using rituals to simulate the effects of the supposed time chambers."

Griselda discretely held up a hand to hold Amelia's reaction to that as she responded. "You have not answered me properly Mister Dumbledore, you have merely made further unfounded and ridiculous accusations! I still require your explicit response as to whether you are questioning the court's magic, the Clerk of the Court or my own competence as the sitting Chief Witch, and remind you that these court validated documents are in fact certified copies of _magical_ contracts! In case you are unaware, it is not possible to enact a magical contract for the use of something that is not real or does not exist! You have now added the insult of claiming that _Lady_ Tonks, Madam Bones and _Lord_ Longbottom were so incompetent that the goblins easily tricked them into believing that the effects of some nebulous and I dare say imaginary rituals were evidence that they and their charges had been using the goblins' time chambers. If you keep this up you will have accused everyone in Magical Britain but yourself of being incompetent fools by the end of this session. Now give me your answer!"

Dumbledore realised what a mistake he'd made in underestimating this witch, who'd been brilliant enough to have been accepted as a teacher and risen to the position of being trusted to certify that students had properly mastered magical subjects at quite a young age and sharp enough to have retained the position of head of the Wizarding Examination Authority for at least seventy or eighty years. "I apologise Madam Chief Witch, I misspoke in my aggravation. I would never have consciously questioned the competence of the magic of the court, the Clerk of the Court or yourself, _or_ Madam Tonks, Madam Bones or Lord Longbottom…. And I must admit that the reference to the contracts being magical had slipped by me without my catching it…."

* * *

She cut him off. "Bah! Spare me your empty platitudes and lies Dumbledore. Our young Duke Potter obviously had you pegged when he expressed his concerns that you would twist the facts in an attempt to portray yourself in a better light."

"We have already wasted way too much time on your empty story telling, so stop your evasions so that we can address what you were called here to answer. _Y__our_ actions, and the abuse, baseless accusations and slurs you hurled at Duke Potter and his betrothed which caused Duke Potter to publicly declare that he could not stomach living in Magical Britain until you and others like you had been purged. You will explain what you were doing trying to open a passage to access Salazar Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets, with as Duke Potter stated the clear intention of trying to steal from the Houses of Potter and Slytherin, and what grounds you claim to have for publicly accusing Duke Potter of stealing what has been legally confirmed to be his own property. The intent of this session is to try and find a way to convince Duke Potter that Magical Britain is worth returning to, so we will get onto that right now!"

It was obvious that Dumbledore still thought he had a way out of this, because he was looking smug as he shook his head with his made up disappointed grandfather persona which didn't work when he actually resembled a hairless overgrown, white skinned and wrinkly garden gnome. "Grisel….." he hurriedly changed that to "Madam Chief Witch" as she went to grab her wand to curse him. "I will admit that in my anger I may have said some things I shouldn't that night, but is not me who is wasting time here, it is you. You see we do not need to pander to Potter, we just need to remind him of our laws which require him and his so called betrothed to attend Hogwarts until they have earned their OWLs, or they must have their magic bound and all memory of the Magical world removed from them and their families. I must admit that Miss Lovegood and her father present a bit of a quandary as they are part of the Magical world, but it is well known that their grip on reality is so tenuous that removing their memories of the Magical world would not significant harm them so we can easily justify it for the Greater Good. It is unfortunate that Potter has forced us to take matters this far, but once he's made to understand what his rebellion will cost him and the people around him he will coming running back with his tail between his legs."

Griselda could see that young Harry's extended family and a good number of the people in the chamber were fighting the urge to wipe this stain on the good name and character of Magical Britain from existence, she was doing the same but she could also see Andi trying to get control of her temper so that she could find the documents to answer this, so she addressed the pig to give her more time to do so. "What you are proposing is in my opinion abhorrent and totally unacceptable Mister Dumbledore, and you seem to have forgotten the minor detail that you would need to have them in custody in order to bind their magic and obliviate them. Do you even know where they are? Because it is my understanding that they have already left Britain."

Dumbledore waved that away as a minor detail. "They apparently got to France somehow and then took an international portkey from Paris to New York, along with a Muggleborn witch who taught Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts four or five years ago and a Muggle Raised Half Blood witch who didn't even manage to make it through the first month of Auror training, on the night that Potter attacked me at Hogwarts. I'm sure that we can come up with some reason to get an international warrant issued through the ICW for Potter and the others and get the Americans to pick them up and send them back. Xeno Lovegood doesn't even appear to know that his daughter has left the country."

Griselda didn't bother correcting the allegation about Harry attacking him because she was watching Andi surreptitiously as she found the last of the documents she was looking for and took a moment to calm herself before holding them up for the court's magic to take them. Once again, the Clerk of the Court quickly validated, copied and returned the originals and sent a copy to the Chief Witch. Griselda smiled to herself as she confirmed that Andi done what she expected, submitting all of Harry, Hermione and Luna's official British and ICW OWL and NEWT scores and the notifications of the internationally recognised masteries they had just earned. She held up the page that the Clerk of the Court had included which summarised all the documents submitted and signalled him to send copies of that to all the sitting Wizengamot members.

She waited for the exclamations of shock and disbelief from the Wizengamot benches to die down before she addressed Dumbledore. "There is a slight problem with your plan Mister Dumbledore, because it appears that Duke Potter, Lady Granger and Lady Lovegood have already earned their British and ICW OWLs, along with their British and ICW NEWTs and a number of masteries each, doing quite well I must say."

"What? That's impossible! They must be fake! I demand to see what has been presented!"

The fire in her voice made him stumble back as she barked. "You have already been warned about making demands Dumbledore! Perhaps a week in Azkaban would help you understand how you should behave when you are called to answer the Wizengamot's questions?"

She dismissively flicked a hand at him and one of the Court Officers got another copy of the summary sheet from the Clerk of the Court for Dumbledore, all but throwing it at him as he handed it over. Many people were having their eyes opened to what the _Great_ Albus Dumbledore was really like in this session.

Griselda had not been at all surprised by the contents of the documents, because she and Hadrian Tofty had personally overseen all of the children's British examinations, and those three had done more to improve Britain's image in the Magical world's professional circles than anyone else in the last two hundred years, even Harry and Luna's mothers hadn't impressed the Magical world as much as they did, and Aurors all over the world were clamouring to get their hands on those tracking bracelets they created as an early part of their mastery projects. While they weren't up to Duke Potter and his betrothed's level, Heir Longbottom and his betrothed's performance had confirmed the superiority of the education practises this group had adopted, because they performed significantly better than their parents had at Hogwarts, even in those subjects where they had the same teachers.

* * *

When Dumbledore finally looked up in confusion, Griselda pounced. "As it would appear that your _brilliant_ plan to force Duke Potter, Lady Hermione and Lady Luna to return to Magical Britain won't work, I suggest we go back to you trying to explain yourself Dumbledore! And by the way, I did not correct you when you accused Duke Potter of attacking you in your honour duel earlier because Lady Tonks was in the process of supplying the documentation to prove you wrong, but if you make any further slurs or false accusations in regard to _Duke_ Potter and his ladies, you _will_ be spending a month in Azkaban! I've had as much as I am prepared to take of your attitude and loose interpretations of the truth!"

"In case you didn't know, the entire Wizengamot watched the memories of what happened that night at Hogwarts, so we saw Duke Potter challenging you to an honour duel for your disgusting and unfounded slurs on the character and virtue of two young ladies of unquestioned virtue, which I dare say most members of the Wizengamot would have challenged you for if they were directed at members of their own families. We also saw your cowardly attempt to escape, which disgusted your phoenix so much that she left you, and watched as Duke Potter allowed you to make a good effort before he responded and put an end to the duel. The only thing I would say against Duke Potter in regard to that duel was that I wished that I had not been forced to witness the image that it ended with…. No, what we are here to address is what followed that duel, the fact that you pushed Duke Potter to the point where he has decided to abandon Magical Britain until we manage to address the infestation of you and your ilk."

Frank stood up at that point and Griselda recognised him. "Before Mister Dumbledore proposes some plan to try and use Duke Potter, Lady Hermione and Lady Luna's closest friends, who are in fact my Heir and his betrothed Lady Susan and Lady Megan, to lure them back to Britain, I wish to announce that my son Neville, Lady Susan and Lady Megan have also completed their British and ICW OWLs. While they did not manage to match Duke Potter, Lady Hermione and Lady Luna's incredible results, they did quite well enough to be accepted to Beauxbatons in France to study for their NEWTs. So you will not be using our children as bait to get Duke Potter and his Betrothed back Dumbledore!"

He held up some documents and the Clerk of the Court processed them as he had the documents from Andi before sending a copy to the Chief Witch. Griselda quickly flicked through them and smiled to herself again, as Frank had included Petunia Evans, Arabella Figg and Rubeus Hagrid's official British OWL results, plus Hagrids' NEWT results and the fact that he'd been officially apprenticed to pursue his Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology masteries under Xeno Lovegood and Pomona Sprout in the bundle with Neville, Susan and Megan's Official British and ICW OWL results. No-one would bother asking about them but this made them part of the Wizengamot's official records, which should give all of them some protection if anyone started pushing for them to be obliviated, along with Xeno as he was officially recognised by the international bodies as having successfully trained Harry, Hermione and Luna to gain their Care of Magical Creatures masteries and having another apprentice now.

Griselda nodded to him. "Thank you Earl Longbottom, that will hopefully save us having to listen to at least one of the demented schemes that were bound to be punted about, and please pass on my congratulations for their excellent results to young Neville, and Susan and Megan of course Director Bones."

Frank and Amelia thanked her for that, but then Frank asked leave to speak again, and when he was recognised he demanded satisfaction from the ones who had been quite vocally denigrating himself and Andi for supposedly being feeble minded enough to be confounded by a pre-teen Dark Lord in the form of either honour duels or paying whatever compensation that he or the Potter Regent deemed sufficient to address the slurs made against them. Sirius also stood and claimed the right to represent his cousin in any honour duels for slurs against her on the basis of being closer by blood and Frank conceded the point with a smile. Both Frank and Sirius had sufficiently formidable reputations that most who were called out chose to pay compensation, even though they knew that Frank and Andi could demand anything they chose and it would have to be paid. Frank and Sirius were actually looking forward to destroying the few who had fancied their skill with a wand enough to choose to fight honour duels, and then claiming everything they owned by right of conquest of course.

* * *

Griselda had been listening to what the Purebloods were being challenged for and thinking as they progressed. When the challenges had been agreed, she looked at the Wizengamot benches. "Why don't we stop wasting time on this matter? Duke Potter has made his position quite clear, but while I do not believe that he is being at all unreasonable after how he has been treated by Magical Britain, we all know that the Wizengamot will never be able to agree on any resolutions that will meet his requirements to return… Unless any of you are foolish enough to vote for proposals to try and seize what belongs to any of their houses, and if you do that I shall be taking a holiday overseas until after he has finished responding to you, because I for one do not doubt the young Duke's word on what he will do in that eventuality."

She shook her head. "I am what most of you would call a Pureblood of a Noble and Ancient House, but I truly do not understand those of you who call yourselves _traditional_ Purebloods. As Duke Potter said at Hogwarts, he is quite justifiably proud of his exceptional Muggleborn mother and betrothed, and just as proud of his equally exceptional Pureblood betrothed for her ability, but _Purebloods_ with far less intelligence, ability and magical power than any of them look down on Duke Potter and his mother and betrothed because of their supposedly _inferior_ blood status…_."_

"Then there is Mister Dumbledore here, who enjoys considerable support in Magical Britain, even though historical facts bely his deserving that support _or_ the positions of trust he holds…. But he is _also_ a Half-Blood because _his_ mother was Muggleborn too, even though he openly supports Pureblood supremacist causes..."

"Similarly, there is considerable evidence to show that the actions of the Pureblood supremists who supported the at best Muggle Raised Half Blood Tom Marvolo Riddle because he falsely claimed to be the Pureblood _Lord_ Voldemort in the so called blood war that Duke Potter's mother's actions finished in Nineteen Eight One _should_ have resulted in most if not all of them being incarcerated or punished after the war, but this body will not enforce that... Nor will it enforce cleaning out the rampant bigotry and corruption in the Ministry that Duke Potter has called for..."

"The fact is that we cannot have any realistic expectation of complying with Duke Potter's requirements for them to return to Britain in the foreseeable future unless it is for retribution, so the only option available to us which has any chance of success is to do as Duke Potter has said, we will just have to deal with Tom Riddle and his followers ourselves."

There was stunned silence in the chamber when she finished, because while the brighter ones at least knew that everything she said was correct, it painted a totally unpalatable picture of the future for the Pureblood witches and wizards who believed that Magical Britain rightfully belonged to them.

Many of them wanted to curse the Chief Witch for calling Dumbledore and Lord Voldemort Half-Bloods (even though it was a simple matter to confirm that fact), and the ones who's fortunes were based on the corruption that she and the Potter brat were talking about were desperate to shut them up, but most of all, they were horrified by the idea of having to deal with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named themselves.

The very idea went against the traditions of Magical Britain, because they _always_ had heroes to save the day, be it King Arthur, Saint George, Saint Patrick, Dumbledore, or the Boy-Who-Lived himself. It was his destiny and _duty_ to deal with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named! If he had done the job properly the first time he wouldn't have been able to come back, so it was his responsibility to stop making these ridiculous demands and come back and finish the job, to get rid on him once and for all!

They were shaken out of their ruminations by applause, and when they looked up they saw that the representatives of all the Druid Houses and Families were on their feet, actually _applauding_ the Chief Witch for that speech. A fair number of the ones in the gallery were also on their feet and joining in the applause, which made the traditional Purebloods want to curse them… what were they doing, applauding that ridiculous speech?

When the applause died down Frank Longbottom proposed that the Chief Witch's motion that they stop wasting time and just accept that there was no real chance of passing any resolutions which would meet Duke Potter's requirements to return be put to a vote, and Sirius Black stood to second the motion. Many argued with this, but enough accepted reality for the motion to be passed when it was put to a vote.

* * *

They congregated in Gringott's office to talk about it after they left the Ministry. They'd had a few mirrors forwarding what happened in the chamber to Harry, Hermione, Luna, Patty and Dora, and when they came through from where they were currently staying in the Potters' Creole Townhouse in New Orleans, Harry was shaking his head. "How do those idiots ever achieve anything? Auntie Gris, Auntie Andi, Auntie Ami and Uncle Frank, thanks for trying, but as we all knew, the Old Goat Molester is obviously going to get off scot free _again…_."

"Well…. Maybe not exactly scot free. I chose that version of Fiendfyre because testing proved that it was hot enough to flash away everything on the surface without having to be applied for long enough to get any further in than the first few layers of skin, and with practice it worked as intended, burning away all the clothes and hair without actually harming the person. I was originally planning to use it for pranking but there are possible side effects that made me change my mind…. the thing is, as the first few layers of skin are burnt off it's possible that the hair will never grow back, that's something I couldn't test with the dummies. It won't really worry me if that's the case with him, but I wonder how long it would take him before he started wearing turbans like Quirrell did to cover up to his ugly head?"

"Never mind, the fact is that Auntie Gris was right, it doesn't matter how much proof they're shown, they won't get rid of the Goat Molester or do anything about the Death Eaters or the corruption in the Ministry, and we'll have to make an example of some of them because they'll believe that if we aren't here to see it we won't know that they're trying to steal from us."

"Did anyone see anyone on the Wizengamot reacting to what Auntie Andi said about me being dumped on the doorstep in the middle of a cold November night and treated like a house elf for ten yours, that she was referring to Dark _Lords_, not one Dark Lord, or that Dumbledore has done more harm to me than anyone else? What about the casual way Dumbledore was talking about wiping out Most Noble and Most Ancient, Noble and Most Ancient, and Noble and Ancient Houses, and especially the Noble and Ancient House of Lovegood and Most Ancient Druid House of Cathbad when Uncle Xeno and Luna are both Purebloods who were born and raised in Magical Britain? I didn't see anyone but the family reacting, but was there anyone else out of range of the mirrors I was watching?"

The ones who had been in the court shook their heads, other than the people in the family, they hadn't seen anyone being bothered about any of those things, so it looked as though they'd been right about what would happen going into this thing, the Wizengamot were just going to ignore everything and try and find some way to force Harry to return to Magical Britain. And that would probably involve some stupid plan of Dumbledore's based on taking something off Harry to make him react even though he'd already warned them what would happen if they tried that.

* * *

On that note, Andi told Harry that they'd identified seven Minor and Noble Houses that they had proof had been stealing from their houses. These were split between Dumbledore's supporters and Death Eaters, but by biggest by far were the two on Dumbledore's side, the Senior Noble and Ancient House of Macmillan and the Junior Noble House of Smith. As Harry had said, the plan was to make an example of them, take absolutely everything they had and then eradicate their houses, if everything went as planned, between them the Houses of Macmillan and Smith would yield an Earl, four Barons and six Baronets' titles and around Five and a Half Million Galleons in liquid funds, plus another Eight or Nine Million in property and a few profitable businesses.

The records were showing that with Dumbledore's help they'd been taking close to a Million Galleons a year from him. He couldn't understand why they didn't have more than that until Andi pointed out that both families had been spending more than their businesses were bringing in to maintain their prosperous image and bribe Fudge, so they would have gone broke before now without supplementing their income by taking from him. The thought of seeing those pompous arses Ernie Macmillan and Zach Smith's faces when they found out that their families were broke and losing everything, _including_ their titles and names brought a smile to his face. Macmillan was constantly going on and on about the fact that he was going to be _Earl_ Macmillan when his Grandfather and father were gone so everyone better stay on his good side or else, and Smith had tried to claim Luna as his plaything so Harry was quite OK with wiping them out. Pointing them at Dumbledore just before he was cleaned out to recover the money he'd been raking in from the Harry Potter books and the like was just icing on the cake because from what Harry had seen there wasn't much honour among these thieves.

All up, the five Death Eater Houses were worth about the same as the Houses of Macmillan and Smith, but they had five Barons and thirteen Baronets' titles that they'd taken off their victims, using threats of what they'd do to their wives and daughters if they didn't willingly transfer them. Their wives and daughters had been raped and murdered anyway once the titles and assets were transferred and their men were killed, but their men had done what they could to try and save them. Marcus Flint was Heir to one of the Minor Death Eater Houses, so it wasn't hard to get an image of what his father had been like in the war and that put paid to any second thoughts Harry might have about destroying their families.

* * *

Hermione pointed out that they needed to get those tests for compulsions, confounding and the like done and have them added to the Wizengamot's official records, and they should move Mrs Figg away from Little Whinging and sell her house as soon as possible, though the timing to have the floo disconnected would be problematical because Dumbledore obviously had people in Magical Transportation and the DMLE in his pocket if he'd been given all the details of the International Portkey to New York when the DMLE weren't notified and he must have seen the official reason for why Dora left the DMLE. They decided to hold off on sending the forms in to have the floo disconnected until after Mrs Figg had moved out.

They brought Hagrid in to fill him in on what had happened and he agreed that this probably would be the best time for him to leave Hogwarts too if Neville, Sue and Megan were going to Beauxbatons. That would let him concentrate on getting his Magical Creatures and Herbology Masteries and making a proper career for himself in Magical Creatures. Hagrid burst out laughing when Minerva asked what would happen with the school's Thestrals when he left, because he hadn't thought about that until then, but he realised that they would most probably leave soon after he did as he'd raised and trained them so he was their only link to Hogwarts…. and the same would probably apply to the Hypogriffs. He liked Harry's suggestion that they would probably all be happy at Potter Manor, so he started thinking about how to show them the way there.

With that, they decided to stop wasting time trying to find answers where there weren't any and had a few laughs about some of what came out, especially Andi comparing Dumbledore to the corrupt priests of the Inquisition and the fact that even though the concept had registered with half of them, the sheeple were obviously refusing to accept her very apt depiction of Dumbledore in that role.

In the end, they wound it up and headed 'home'. The six hour time difference as they stepped through to New Orleans was something that took a bit of work adjusting to, and that would only get worse as they kept heading west. Their next destination would be less of a time difference though, because they were heading down to the unplotted Caribbean island belonging to the House of Black.

This was beginning to feel like a holiday, spending a week or two exploring the city or location where the Potter or Black house was and then stepping through the floo to the next house. They'd moved out of New York quickly because that was where the British Ministry and Dumbledore would most likely be looking for them, but it hadn't taken more than a couple of days in Salem to start feeling the tension slipping away, as they were finally getting some breathing room from the troubles in Britain.

They ended up staying on Isla Negros for nearly a month because it was a tropical paradise... that one was definitely being added to their list of destinations for frequent visits.

* * *

Neville, Sue and Megan started at Beauxbatons while they were on Isla Negra, and so did Hagrid, as Beauxbatons' new Assistant Professor for Care of Magical Creatures. When Frank and Amelia were there registering Neville and the girls, they had discovered something rather interesting, that the new Headmistress, Madame Olympe Maxime, was a part-giant like Hagrid. They got her talking, trying to get a feel for her, and it came out that Beauxbatons' Care of Magical Creatures Professor Monsieur Dubois was highly respected and extremely knowledgeable, but he was getting on in years and wished to retire. The problem was that they couldn't find anyone that he or the Headmistress regarded as suitable to take over from him. After a bit of discussion they called Hagrid over to talk to Monsieur Dubois and Madame Maxime, and by the end of the meeting Hagrid had been hired as Beauxbatons' Assistant Professor for Care of Magical Creatures.

Xeno was happy to release Hagrid from his Care of Magical Creatures apprenticeship so he could become Monsieur Dubois' apprentice. This was so when Hagrid gained his Care of Magical Creatures mastery, Monsieur Dubois would be able to retire as Hagrid took over as Beauxbatons' Care of Magical Creatures Professor. Another thing that was clear to everyone in the room was that it wouldn't be too long before Hagrid and Olympe became a couple.

Dumbledore called Hagrid to his office and did everything he could to stop him leaving, but it quickly went downhill when he got desperate enough to try and play the 'after everything I've done for you' card. He stupidly either forgot or ignored the fact that Hagrid wasn't suppressed the way he'd been since he was eleven any more, and while he may not have a full blown giant's temper, his giant blood meant that he _did_ have a temper. For the old fool to try that when he knew full well that Hagrid was well aware of what he'd done to him ever since he started at Hogwarts was exceedingly stupid, as he realised when Hagrid roared and pounded on his desk hard enough to crack it.

"Done _for_ me? It's what ye've done _to_ me that's the thing ye bloody goat molesting old bastard! I know how much ye've interfered with my mind and magic since I came here, and I don' wanna know if ye've interfered with me in other ways 'cause I don' know if I could to stop m'self rippin' ye bloody arms off if I did!"

Hagrid took a breath to try and calm himself before he tried to continue and Harry, who'd used paired portkeys to flash in when Hagrid exploded because he'd been monitoring the meeting over communications mirrors and was standing disillusioned in one corner of the office, was glad to see the giants' berserker madness fading from his eyes as he did so. "I'm leavin' ye filthy goat fukr and there's naught ye can do about it! I won' be askin' for ref'rences from ye 'cause ye'd want summin' for it and the folk I'll be workin' fa have 'nough sense ta have no regard fa anythin' from ye anyway! 'm leavin' Dumbledore and you won' be seein' me agin if ye're lucky!"

As Hagrid turned and started to stomp out the door, Harry heard Dumbledore mutter "That's what you think!" viciously as he raised his wand at Hagrid's back, so he summoned a king cobra to right beside the ornate chair Dumbledore was sitting in. The snake was angry about being pulled away from basking in the sun in its warm home to this cold and smelly cave and rose up aggressively, flaring its hood and hissing angrily. Harry called out in parseltongue. "_Stop! Do not __strike__ unless I order it!_" The cobra glanced at him then returned its attention and ire to the figure in front of it as it answered. "_A speaker? I have never met a speaker before… but why do you stop me dealing with this human? It must have brought me to this place __from where I was laying in the sun__! __It is cold __here __and I __do not like it! I __want to bite him!_"

"_No, it was not him who brought you here, it was me __sorry__. I promise to send you back to your warm place in the sun soon but he was trying to strike my friend from behind and I needed something that would frighten him enough to make him stop. You, my friend, are magnificent and he is terrified of you._"

That amused the cobra. "_Yesssss!_"

"_If you will stay there and make him believe you will attack, I will deal with him and then send you back with whatever you want to eat._"

"_I can attack?_" It sounded hopeful.

"_No. __B__ut you __will__ terrify him by making him believe you will._"

Its hiss was disappointed this time. "_Yes Speaker._", then it made a half hearted strike in Dumbledore's direction and gave an amused hiss when Dumbledore squeaked like a rat.

Hopeful that the cobra wouldn't actually strike the old fool, Harry addressed Dumbledore. "I would suggest that you very carefully move your hand out and drop your wand onto the rug Dumbledore… And when I say very carefully, I meant _very_ fukn carefully, because my magnificent friend there is not at all happy about being called away from his place in the sun to a cold box like this and he _really_ wants to take out his anger on someone. He's somehow got the idea that this is your fault, so guess who he wants to bite? Drop your wand now! Slowly and carefully!"

Dumbledore slowly moved his hand out to drop the wand without making any sudden moves, but unfortunately Hagrid had turned around when Harry started hissing and saw the wand in Dumbledore's hand pointing at him, so the old bastard must have been about to curse him in the back. The cobra recognised the anger in Hagrid's feral growl and turned to look at him, but sensed movement from the human in front of it and quickly turned back to find the wand being brought back towards it. Dumbledore suddenly found himself looking at the snake's fangs from a very close distance as it got right in his face and hissed angrily.

Harry was in the unfortunate position of having to calm down two very angry and dangerous problems at once. He hissed "_Stop! Don't strike!_" at the cobra as it was the more immediate problem and then barked at Hagrid. "Stop fukn growling and don't take another step Hagrid! We're both going to be in the shit if you get the old bastard killed now!"

"That bastard was going to curse me in the back!"

"Yes he was but my friend stopped him! But if you set him off so he kills Dumbledore now we're both going to be in the shit so shut the fuck up!"

That got through to Hagrid and he shut his mouth, just standing there giving Dumbledore a murderous glare as Harry spoke. "You really are fukn stupid if you believed that there was any hope in the world that you could beat a King Cobra when it's only a foot away from your face old man! Well now that we've confirmed just how stupid you are, I should point out that if he bites you in the face, you will be dead before anyone could possibly get any antivenom into you, even if you did have king cobra antivenom here in the castle, which I rather doubt. So do as I told you and drop that wand very fukn carefully onto the fukn rug and put your hands up!"

Dumbledore did as he was told, never taking his eyes off the snake's fangs, which were still less than a foot from his face. When he had dropped the wand, he carefully put both hands in the air and Harry spoke to the cobra. "_When I say __**now**__ my friend, move away from that one, because I am going to __pull his fangs__!…. **Now!**_"

The cobra suddenly pulled back two or three feet as Harry sent an overpowered stunner at Dumbledore, his anger giving it enough umph to blast both him and the chair he was sitting in across the room so that the chair smashed against the wall and Dumbledore ended up unconscious and a little broken on the floor.

"_Thank you my friend. Now I promised you __would have __whatever you wanted to eat __when you helped me__, what would you like?_"

"_A pig. A big fat pig!_"

Harry summoned a sow that should be big enough to sustain the snake for at least a week. "_Will this one do?_"

"_Yesssss!_"

"_Okay, make sure you have a good grip on it and I will send you back to your spot in the sun. Thank you my friend._"

"_Thank you Speaker!_"

With that, it latched onto the sow and Harry sent it back to its home.

Then he turned on Hagrid, angry with him letting his temper get out of hand as well as Dumbledore for being a backstabbing bastard. "You really need to learn to control that damned temper Hagrid! We wouldn't have been in this position if you hadn't lost your temper, the old goat fukr would have schemed and done everything he could to stop you leaving but he wouldn't have been that stupid if you hadn't wounded his pride by frightening him!"

He sent a patronus to call Madam Pomfrey to Dumbledore's office, and called Auntie Ami as well, conjuring a vial to take a copy of the memory of the entire event from when Hagrid and Dumbledore first started talking to what he'd just said to Hagrid. When Amelia arrived, he explained that as Hagrid's liege lord, it was his duty to monitor the meeting between his sworn vassal and the manipulative Headmaster who's employ he was leaving in case Dumbledore tried anything underhanded, and Hagrid handed over the note from Dumbledore calling him to his office. As it was his memory, the others could understand what was being said in Parseltongue, so Harry had proof that he had done everything he could to prevent the snake striking Dumbledore. Hagrid was embarrassed about what he'd said about being interfered with but Amelia shook her head with a smile. "No, that's perfect Hagrid! He didn't try to contradict you about the fact that he'd been interfering with your mind and magic ever since you started at Hogwarts and given what we know about his tastes, being concerned about what he may have done to you as a boy while he had you under his control was understandable, which should disgust most people who hear it and make them more sympathetic towards you. You didn't actually harm or threaten him, but we saw clear intent from him to curse you in the back before Harry stopped him with his not so little friend…. Harry, you had to have planned your actions to get that specific breed of snake here that quickly though, and someone's bound to try to use that against you."

Harry shook his head. "My actions weren't planned, well not today anyway..." He held up a hand to hold her question and explained. "I thought about this after I managed to call a snake that scared my Uncle's sister off attacking my Aunt over a year ago. I got lucky that time because Marge was so scared of the snake that she tripped over and broke her arm trying to get away from it and then had a heart attack when it followed her out of the house, but I don't think it was even venomous. I knew I couldn't rely on luck to stop the type of people I was told I was up against, so I decided to make sure I could call the type of snakes that could make whoever I called them on stop like that. King Cobras are about the biggest venomous snakes there are so just about anyone would be afraid of them, but they're relatively placid for venomous snakes so I practised calling them with the spell until I could call one without stopping to think about it, _and_ make them do what I told them to. As you saw, Dumbledore couldn't concentrate on anything but the ruddy great cobra that was right in his face and forgot about cursing Hagrid in the back, which was what I intended. The situation went sideways because Hagrid's temper blew up again when he turned around and saw that Dumbledore had been trying to curse him in the back, but I managed to stop Dumbledore being harmed by Hagrid, who had every right to be angry, _or_ the snake, which had been set off by Hagrid's anger. I was angry at Dumbledore too, but the primary reason I took him out like that was because I was sure that he would have another wand and would curse us as soon as we turned our backs on him to try and stop us repeating what happened here."

Amelia nodded thoughtfully at that and summoned Dumbledore's wands. None of them were surprised when the wand from the floor was joined by another wand hidden in Dumbledore's robes, but Amelia raised an eyebrow when a second wand appeared from his robes, plus another one that had been hidden under his desk. She flashed Harry a grim smile as she directed all four wands into a bag without touching them, because having another _three_ undisclosed and hidden wands as well as your main wand wasn't something that someone who called themselves the Leader of the Light would have an easy time explaining. It would be interesting to see what showed up when she tested those wands for what spells had been cast with them.

With that done, she went to have a word with Dumbledore in the infirmary after Harry and Hagrid left Hogwarts. She only managed to keep a straight face by thinking of how this would play out in court as he kept digging himself deeper into the dragon dung with his lies about Hagrid setting him up to be ambushed by Harry and himself by asking for a meeting to discuss something. He of course portrayed himself as the innocent victim of an attempted murder by a fledgling Dark Lord and his corrupted minion. When he finished, she said that they would take the matter to the Wizengamot as soon as Madam Pomfrey released him from the Infirmary.

As expected, the Thestrals and Hypogriffs had left Hogwarts soon after Hagrid and they quickly settled into living at Potter Manor, though they and other creatures from the various Potter and Black Estates were sometimes brought through the goblin floo for the older students' lessons at Beauxbatons. The only ones other than Dumbledore who seemed to have an issue with Hagrid's pets disappearing after he left to make something of himself were some of the Pureblood students, who regarded being forced to walk _all_ the way up to the castle from Hogsmeade station because they no longer had Thestrals to pull the carriages to be cruel and unusual punishment.

* * *

Some of the key estates in the Americas hadn't been created as holiday destinations. One was up in the Andes near Machu Pichu, pretty much sitting on top of the Incas' focal point for magical energy. Another was in Central America, located between where the Mayans and Aztecs had flourished and died out on another focal point for magical energy. In both cases the Black family had built up quite a library of information on the magic of the cultures of the region. There was another similar Potter estate up around Mesa Verde in South West Colorado which had a large collection of information about the Puebloan peoples' magic and one in the Pacific Northwest that focussed on the magic of the tribes in the region.

The last estate they visited on the American mainland was a hidden Spanish hacienda up in the hills behind San Diego, and once they had seen what they wanted to see there they stepped through to the floo to the Potters' house in the culdera of Mount Waialeale on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

There was no question why the house was located there, because the very air was buzzing with energy. There wasn't much in the way of changing scenery in the crater because it was raining almost constantly, but the waterfalls all around the inside walls of the crater were beautiful and it was a simple matter to pop out to see the other sights of the beautiful island. Waialeale was definitely the place to go to be revitalised. As with the estates focused on ancient magic around the Americas, the library in the Waialeale estate had everything collected about Polynesian magic.

* * *

From Waialeale, they stepped through the floo to the Potters' cottage on Easter Island, but there wasn't much to do there so after a week there they moved on to New Zealand. There was a hidden town house near the Ministry in Wellington on the North Island, but the main estate there, called Pounamu, was hidden away in Fiordland on the west coast of the South Island, with land access to use the car and motorbike collection there and wharves for the boats they maintained. They ended up staying at Pounamu for a few weeks, because New Zealand's South Island was beautiful. It was also interesting to watch the supposedly extinct Moas, Haast's eagles and Eyles's harriers in their natural habitat. The Moas, eagles and harriers hadn't died out quite as early as most people believed, and when one of Harry's pirate ancestors took a break from plundering ships from China up in the Indies, he found New Zealand while he was exploring what other prospects the region had to offer at the start of the Sixteenth Century. Pounamu's location in Fiordland was quite magical so he warded the estate and seeded it with the birds they captured. The wards kept the birds in and the Maoris out, so they had a thriving population now.

He'd pretty much circumnavigated Australia in his magical ship on that trip, heading down the west coast and then east across the bottom of Australia, passing over the smaller island south of the mainland on way to the source of the magic he could sense to the east. Most of what he'd seen hadn't impressed him too much as far as potential went, because it was a huge but desolate land, almost as desolate as the oceans of sand in Arabia. The smaller island he passed over appeared to offer possibilities, but it was almost at the end of the world and far too remote to be viable to exploit. Whatever the source of this magic to the east was though, it could have possibilities if he found a shorter way back to more civilised climes. The giant birds that he found there were magnificent, but the way the natives were killing them off he could see that they wouldn't last long. The power of some of the sites he found there was impressive, and this seemed to be somehow linked to the local version of the the Chinamen's jade, what the natives called Pounamu. He decided to claim the site that had one of the biggest deposits of this Pounamu, warding it off to keep the natives out, and as those giant birds were too magnificent to be killed off, he captured as many as he could and used them to seed the warded estate he'd created. When they left what was later to be called New Zealand, they headed up the east coast of the continent and he could see that it was much more impressive than the western and southern regions, so much so that he'd added two more estates by the time they reached the northern tip of the east coast and turned to head west. The northern areas of this vast continent showed much more promise than the west and south as well.

After Pounamu, their next stop was Tasmania. While Harry's ancestor hadn't explored Tasmania, the family had staked a claim after the Europeans settled there, so there were two Potter residences in Tasmania... One of the early town houses in Hobart itself, which was hidden under a fidelius, and a cottage in the middle of a Huon Pine forest on a large and rather remote parcel of land on the south west coast that most people could not find (magic also prevented anyone noticing that that much land was privately owned or the fact that they kept skipping over any references to it for some reason). As in New Zealand, the estate was the last haven of animals believed to be extinct, in this case the Tasmanian Tiger or Thylacine. The Potters originally just had the house in Hobart, but when the Thylacines' numbers started dropping rapidly because of hunting and pest control in the mid-Eighteen Hundreds, they acquired the parcel of land and stocked it with the Thylacines and other animals. Having a large private Huon Pine forest also guaranteed the Potter family an on-going supply of Huon Pine, something that was restricted for everyone else after the government stepped in to protect the trees in the Nineteen Seventies. Like New Zealand, Tasmania had a lot to offer so they spent a while down there. The Tasmanian estate was called Black Jay, the common name of the Currawongs that were prevalent in the area.


	9. The Bitch is Back

**In case anyone's interested, the end of the last chapter has been extended to better explain how the Potters were in NZ and Oz over a hundred years before any other Europeans. I could have just said 'Magic!', but where's the fun in that?**

**To forestall any complaints, I have nothing against gentlemen who prefer the company of those of their own gender or like to dress in ladies' garments, in fact I have had many friends of that persuasion over the last half century or so. The comments in this chapter are meant to ridicule no-one but the ficticious Albus Dumbledore character, though I will stand by my comment about Divine _not_ looking good in a dress.**

**Usual disclaimer, no rights to anything from JKR's stories, or Ferngully for that matter.**

Amelia wasn't overly surprised, exceedingly pissed off to be sure, but not overly surprised, that when Poppy Pomfrey released Dumbledore from Hogwarts' infirmary and they got him in front of the Wizengamot for the case relating to Harry Potter and Rubeus Hagrid's supposed 'attack' on him, the evidence she had that should have enough to send most wizards to Azkaban was rejected by the majority of the Wizengamot because 'Albus wouldn't do that!'.

They refused to have Harry's memory of the events played for the Wizengamot, citing the usual crap about memories not being allowable because they could supposedly be faked (never mind that both the DMLE and the Department of Mysteries had processes to definitively confirm whether a given memory was the genuine article or not), and either Dumbledore or Fudge had someone planted in the DMLE who interfered with the wands she took from Dumbledore before she could test them in front of witnesses who would not be questioned so there was no proof of what he'd used them for. Fudge stated that Albus having extra wands in case he was attacked a reasonable precaution when there were dangerous types running around.

Amelia looked him in the eye and asked. "Dangerous types like who Cornelius?"

She just shrugged when the Umbitch told her that she couldn't address the Minister in such a familiar manner. "I thought we were all on first name terms here _Delores,_ seeing as the Minister was using the given name of the wizard who was in possession of a number of unrecorded and hidden wands, which anyone with any knowledge of Magical Law Enforcement would tell you is regarded as being an extremely questionable practice. I am sure that the Minister would never dream of trying to pressure me by emphasising his close relationship with the wizard in question, so as I said I was under the impression that he was merely attempting to reduce the tension by using given names to make the proceedings more informal."

She turned to Fudge. "That _was_ what you were doing, wasn't it Cornelius?"

Fudge was sweating as he stammered. "Yes. Yes of course Amelia!"

"I'm so glad we got that cleared up! But we have gotten off track, who was it that you were referring to as dangerous types Cornelius?"

"Who? Well… You said yourself that this Hagrid fellow was turning violent in the meeting he set up with Albus."

"Don't you mean the meeting that Albus called him to his office for Cornelius?"

"Oh yes, I had forgotten that Albus remembered that he'd actually called for the man to try and talk him into staying at Hogwarts when you showed him that note you found, but the fact remains that this Hagrid fellow _did_ get violent!"

"Angry perhaps, but not really violent, Mister Hagrid freely admitted that he got angry and pounded on Albus' desk, but his testimony under Veritaserum and the memories he submitted proved that he neither touched nor threatened Albus in any way, and in fact Albus did not deny that he had in fact been applying bindings and compulsions to Mister Hagrid without his consent since he was a boy, so I think we can all agree that it is understandable for Mister Hagrid to get angry and bang on the desk a little….."

She turned to Dumbledore. "Isn't that right Albus?"

"What? No, I would never do anything like that!"

Amelia didn't bother trying to make her act of sorrow at all believable as she shook her head at him. "You must be still having trouble with your memory of what happened that day Albus, never mind, a quick dose of Veritaserum will help clear that up!"

The Umbitch snapped. "You aren't allowed to force the use of Veritaserum on someone of Professor Dumbledore's status!"

"It would appear that you are having trouble with _your_ memory as well Delores. The only group that has been granted the right to refuse to take Veritaserum unless they have volunteered to do so are those who are both classified as having Pureblood blood status _and_ belong to at least a Noble House…."

She made a show of looking around. "And the only one who meets that criteria out of us here seems to be me. While Cornelius is a Pureblood, the House of Fudge is only a Minor House due to the Baronets for his position as Minister for Magic and his Order of Merlin, First Class. The House of Dumbledore is also a Minor House, being elevated by Albus' Order of Merlin, but he is a Half Blood due to his mother being a Muggleborn witch…. she was quite an impressive witch from what I've heard..."

"And while you, Delores, are also a Half Blood because your mother was a Muggle, but to the best of my knowledge your father has never officially registered the Umbridge Family with the Ministry as a Magical Family, so you may not even officially qualify as belonging to a Magical Family…. You know what? I saw your father working down the hall on the way here, why don't we go ask him about that?"

Umbridge hissed at her through gritted teeth. "There is no need for that! I get your point, you can make Professor Dumbledore take Veritaserum if you wish!"

"What brought that up? We seem to have gotten off the subject…. Oh that's right, we were going to use some Veritaserum to jog Albus' memory about what he was discussing with Mister Hagrid….."

Dumbledore looked like he wanted to curse her where she stood too. "There is no need for that _Amelia_, our little chat has in fact helped jog my memory… Yes, under Headmaster Dippett's orders, I placed bindings on young Rubeus Hagrid because the Headmaster was afraid that with his giant blood he may become unruly and dangerous, and I replaced them whenever they failed because I was worried that he would react as he began to in my office if he ever found out that had been done to him."

Amelia nodded with only a touch of a triumphant smile and turned to Fudge. "You see Cornelius, Albus agrees that Mister Hagrid had a valid reason for being angry, and that he didn't do anything which would justify calling him dangerous. And as Duke Potter pointed out, it was his duty as Mister Hagrid's sworn liege lord to provide protection for him so he was monitoring his meeting with Albus. When he heard voices being raised, Duke Potter portkeyed into the office and found Albus pointing his wand at Mister Hagrid... Albus must have misread the situation and gotten a fright from Mister Hagrid pounding on his desk….. so he stunned Albus. Duke Potter admits to overpowering the stunner a little in the heat of the moment, and that was how Albus was injured. That was the way it went, wasn't it Albus? If you're still having trouble remembering we can watch Duke Potter's memory to help you jog your's?"

"No, it's all coming back now, I must have been shaken up from hitting my head when young Harry's stunner blasted me into the wall. What Amelia described is how it happened, I apologise Cornelius, my head must have been rather scrambled by the blow to get the events so mixed up."

Amelia gave a grim smile. "Oh well, all's well that ends well. We just have to add those clarifications to the official record for this session and then we can close the matter…. One thing that you should be very careful about though Albus, just because we're all friends here doesn't mean that we can use the Heads of Most Noble and Most Ancient Houses' given names without their formally giving us leave to do so. Duke Potter must be addressed and referred to _as_ Duke Potter unless he publicly grants you leave to use any other form of address, and I seem to remember him pointing that out to you at Hogwarts. You really need to make sure you stop using those less respectful forms of address that you've been letting slip before the House of Potter decides to officially take umbrage with it..."

She gave one of the Umbitch's fake giggles. "No pun intended Delores….. Because as you know the House of Potter is not happy with you at the moment and if they choose to make a case of it, it will cost you quite a bit….. Anyway, if we record the fact that now it's come back to him, Albus' recollection of the incident matches the testimony that Mister Hagrid and Duke Potter gave me, we can close this case off."

Dumbledore was furious about being forced to agree but knew he'd have to concede this battle because Bones had him by the short and curlies…. Or she would if he had them any more.

* * *

There was a twelve hour time difference between Britain and their properties in New Zealand, so that was the biggest adjustment they had to make when they were using the goblin floos to step between their properties. The property in Hawaii and the ones along the east coast of Australia were still ten hours out from Britain though, and it was looking as though the majority of their time would be spent on the east coast of Australia.

The family records revealed that the Potters had been in Australia for over a hundred years before the Non-Magical Europeans' arrival, because Harry's pirate ancestor discovered a beautiful valley in the caldera of what was later to be named the Tweed Volcano about halfway up the East Coast in the very early Fifteen Hundreds on the return leg of the trip where he established Pounamu in New Zealand, James Cook named the volcanic plug that rose out of the caldera Mount Warning when he saw it in 1770. The magic around Mount Warning and especially the valley was quite strong, and that was what drew Harry's ancestor there. It was such a beautiful and magical place that he set wards around the valley to claim it for himself before he and his crew returned to the East Indies. Those wards allowed only magicals to enter, which cemented the valley's status as a sacred site and raised the standing of those elders who had enough magic to get through the wards with the local natives.

What the local people called the valley translated to Fern Gully in English, so that became the estate's name. Therein lay a problem though, because when Harry and the others started making plans to go there, they discovered that an animated movie had just come out in August 1992 about a fairy valley near Mount Warning which was called Ferngully.

They looked into the history of the woman who had written the story fifteen years earlier, and it turned out that she was a Squib descendent of one of the crew of the original Potter magical pirate ship that found the valley, the Garuda. Apparently her grandmother was a witch who had told her stories about a magical valley near Mount Warning that was called Fern Gully when she was a little girl and Diana had unknowingly based her story Ferngully on the shreds of memory which had been left behind when they tried to remove her memory of magic because she obviously wasn't going to become a witch. There was no way of shutting the movie down, but luckily no-one had any thought of it being anything other than a delightful children's tale.

They also set up a base on an island created from an extinct volcano in the northern portion of the Great Barrier Reef on the same trip. This island was basically a smaller version of an island a few thousand miles to the east which would come to be known as Bora Bora a couple of hundred years later. They called it Currawong Island for the Pied Currawongs they found there when they stopped over, taking a few days to get off the ship and relax, and made it unplottable and hidden to prevent other Europeans finding it if they were exploring the region so that they wouldn't lose their idyllic island haven. Towards the end of the Nineteenth Century Currawong Island was upgraded from a stopover spot to the home base for their remaining pirate ships after their base on the island of Krakatoa which they'd been using as their base of operations in the region for four hundred years was destroyed in the massive eruption of 1883, because the East Indies had become too crowded to create another hidden base without someone noticing, and the increasing numbers of warships in the region were taking the fun out of piracy.

After seeing what Northern and Eastern Australia had to offer, Harry's ancestor had explored the continent further, and founded another estate in the early Sixteenth Century in what was later to become Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. While not as magical as Fern Gully, the local peoples' magic was strong and it had a rugged beauty that touched them. The Arnhem Land estate was called Ngalyod, after the Rainbow Serpent that the local people revered.

The Potters built a residence in Sydney when the British founded a colony there towards the end of the Eighteenth Century, finding a location that wouldn't be built out in what came to be called The Rocks and building what was a rather substantial house for the area, which everyone soon forgot about due to the notice-me-nots and other wards that were cast over it. Magpie House was located close to the Colonial Offices that the Ministry of Magic established in a cottage next to the original Government House. Magpie House was also in the right place for them to hear any juicy tips about interesting ships' cargos or discoveries, after all the House of Potter needed to build its fortune.

When the town of Hobart was established down in Tasmania, the Potters built another residence there to keep their finger on the pulse of what was happening in the remote colony, and another in what was to become East Melbourne when Melbourne was established. They didn't build a house in Brisbane when it was founded because it was little more than a penal outpost and they were well established in Fern Gully, which was close enough to preclude the need for another residence, but they did build an office near the original Customs House to conduct business from and keep an ear out for what was going on, just as they did in the other major towns. Houses _were_ built in what were to become Perth, Adelaide and Darwin when they were founded though.

They didn't build a residence in Australia's new federal capital in Canberra when it was founded in the Nineteen Twenties either, because the newly created Australian Ministry of Magic had taken over the British Ministry of Magic's Colonial Office and staff in Sydney when the Federation of Australia was founded in 1901. Having their offices in Sydney hadn't created any problems in the twenty six years that Melbourne served as the capital of the Federation, so the Australian Ministry decided to remain in Sydney when Canberra was founded.

Ironically, while Magpie House in Sydney was their principal residence in Australia, it was the only one that was located in what was for most of its history a rough area, but that was the way the first town of the Australian Colonies developed. Magpie House was very close to the original Government House and Ministry of Magic Colonial Office, and the new Government House and Colonial Office which were built about fifty years later weren't much farther way, so there was little point in moving.

By the end of the Twentieth Century, Magpie House in Sydney, Fern Gully, Currawong Island and Ngalyod were the only properties in Australia that were frequented by the Potters, they had a number of Muggle businesses with Magical connections but they were mainly left with the people who'd been running their businesses down there for centuries.

* * *

While the group at Beauxbatons were enjoying their time there and not having to deal with the stress and stupidity of Magical Britain most of the time made Harry, Hermione, Luna and anyone else who got to travel with them happy, things weren't so good for the ones who were stuck in Magical Britain. It wasn't too hard to gauge Amelia's mood when she put the poster that Harry picked up for her in America up in her office, because it was the famous (in the Muggle world anyway) one of two vultures, with one saying 'Patience my Ass! I'm gunna kill something!'.

They all felt for Amelia, because she was the one who had to deal with Dumbledore's stupid schemes to get Harry to return to Magical Britain, Fudge pissing in his pocket and agreeing with whatever he said, and that Umbitch (as the kids called her) creature with her patently false sweet expression, giggles and throat clearing, not to mention her ugly mug, horrendous colour sense and lack of taste. She'd often wondered whether she could get away with killing the foul creature and blaming it on the Death Eaters.

Amelia was even more angry at the moment, because she'd just come back from a meeting of the International Heads of Magical Law Enforcement to find Fudge and Dumbledore holding a press conference in the Ministry Atrium. Fudge was announcing that the Wizengamot had just passed a landmark ruling for the purpose of ensuring that the standards and integrity of Magical Britain would be properly maintained. This ruling stated that only those who had completed the full seven years of their education at Hogwarts would be eligible to hold or cast votes in Magical Britain's Wizengamot.

She could see Dumbledore looking smug, so this was obviously his idea, but she had to make all these people see what he was trying to do here, and that it was illegal, so she pushed her way through the crowd to get to the stage. At least she managed to identify some of the ones Dumbledore and Fudge had turned in her department, because they were actually stupid enough to try and stop her getting up onto the stage. She told her guards to arrest the ones who had showed their hand and went to face Dumbledore as he was the one driving this, Fudge was nothing but a patsy. She made sure that her watch communicator was activated and sending to everyone she was linked to before she got on stage.

Dumbledore hadn't been expecting her to get back until all this was over and done with, and had in fact made arrangements with his people in Magical Transportation to make sure she was held up, so he didn't manage to cover up his shock and anger that she was there. From the murmuring in the crowd, Amelia could tell that she wasn't the only one who'd seen that so she smiled at him.

"What is going on here Albus? I didn't receive any formal notification of a Wizengamot session to discuss changing the rules of the Wizengamot, and nor apparently did the Wizengamot member who holds the proxies for the House of Bones because they would have made sure that I was aware of something this significant…. In fact, I can't see any Wizengamot members here who aren't part of your and Cornelius' factions, so I have to wonder how you could have gotten enough votes to get this passed. After all, as I'm sure you know, any change to the Rules of the Wizengamot requires the support of at least three quarters of the votes in the Wizengamot, otherwise it has to be dropped….."

She waited until he began to speak and then cut him off. "Never mind, we can confirm whether you had enough votes to get this passed later, as I had no notification at all about this, I would like a clarification of what Cornelius just said…. Did he mean that you have to have completed your NEWTs while you were at Hogwarts…. And gotten acceptable scores I presume, because we can't have Magical Britain being run by duffers can we?….. or did he mean that you actually had to have been _at_ Hogwarts for the full seven years and completed your NEWTs to avoid having your House's voting rights taken off of you?"

Half of the Wizengamot members assembled there started to look worried, because they were starting to realise that they might have just voted themselves off the Wizengamot. Dumbledore tried to adopt the mien of someone explaining something to a backwards child. "I am surprised that you could have had trouble understanding what Minister Fudge said Amelia, as he quite clearly stated 'those who had completed the full seven years of their education at Hogwarts', which obviously means that you have to have attended Hogwarts for seven years."

Amelia caught sight of Griselda Marchbanks pushing her way through the crowd and smiled to herself, as Griselda was the one she needed to put a stop to this. "So you're saying that anyone who's academic performance was sufficiently strong for the professors to allow them to advance a year, or anyone who attended Beauxbatons, Durmstrang or any other accredited education program for any part of their education will lose their family's votes in the Wizengamot and cannot hold voting proxies for anyone else in the Wizengamot? And you didn't answer my other question about whether they are also required to achieve acceptable NEWT scores to qualify to retain their Wizengamot votes either."

Dumbledore was pissed off that this hadn't worked out the way he'd planned, and there was obviously no way she was going to allow him to get off this stage without answering her questions, but they'd gotten it through so there was nothing she could do about it now. "Yes, you have to have attended Hogwarts, the premier magical school in the world, for seven years to hold any sort of voting rights in Magical Britain's Wizengamot. And no, there are no requirements to have completed NEWTs or meet any specific academic thresholds. The primary purpose of this change was to ensure that members of the Wizengamot are properly educated in the _values_ of Magical Britain, which cannot be learned elsewhere in the world."

He went white at that point, because Griselda had stormed up onto the stage looking like she wanted to take him apart with her bare hands. "What in the seven hells do you think you're playing at Dumbledore? Even _you_ should know that can't slip in a change to the rules of the Wizengamot without at least three quarters of the Wizengamot votes! And as for that dragon shite about having to have attended Hogwarts for seven years, half of these idiots you have here fail that test!"

With that she went through the assembled Wizengamot members who had been looking pleased with themselves up until a few minutes ago, pointing out which ones failed to qualify because they hadn't completed their NEWTs, had attended Durmstrang or Beauxbatons, and one who _had_ been bright enough to be able to skip a year. She also had fun pointing out that the only reason that two of them _DID_ qualify was that they were so stupid that it had taken them an extra two years to manage to pass their OWLs.

Dumbledore obviously hadn't bothered reading the Wizengamot rules though, because he was still looking smug. "That is unfortunate, I obviously expected Wizengamot members to have read and understood the proposals before they voted on them, but this just shows why this ruling was needed, to clean up the Wizengamot. Now if you excuse me I need to ensure that the requisite notices are sent out."

Amelia took that one. "And what notices would they be Albus?"

"I do not believe that this is a suitable venue for that type of familiarity Madam Bones! I am of course referring to the notices to advise all the previous Wizengamot members of the changes to the status of their voting rights."

"Have you already forgotten, _Mister_ Dumbledore, that both Madam Marchbanks and myself have advised you here that any changes to the rules of the Wizengamot require at least three quarters of the Wizengamot votes to be passed?"

"I cannot be held responsible if Wizengamot members fail to attend Wizengamot sessions Madam Bones, and well over three quarters of the attending Wizengamot members voted for the ruling, so it _has_ passed!"

Griselda burst out laughing at that. "How did you ever pass your NEWTs Dumbledore? Could someone bring me a copy of the Wizengamot rules please? After this, I think we should be looking to get a rule added that precludes anyone from sitting as the Chief Warlock or Chief Witch unless they can prove that they have read and _understood_ the Rules of the Wizengamot….." She broke off to say "Oh, thank you Marcus." as the Clerk of the Court came up onto the stage to hand her a copy of the Wizengamot Rules, with a piece of parchment sticking out of it.

She opened the book at the parchment to see that with his usual efficiency he had the relevant page marked and the parchment had the figures for the current number of total Wizengamot votes and how many votes would be needed for this change to the rules to be passed. There was also a note to say that he had not been called to the Wizengamot session either, someone else from Wizengamot Administration had been organised to send out the notifications and attended as Clerk of the Court.

Griselda grimly handed the note to Amelia and addressed Dumbledore. "As you apparently have problems reading Mister Dumbledore, I will read this for you…." Either she or Amelia had cast a Sonorous so everyone in the Atrium heard her as she read out. "_Any proposal for changes to the Rules of the Wizengamot must addressed in a session of the entire Wizengamot. Failure to attend will not be allowed unless the proper authorities have presented magical oaths to attest to the medical or legal reasons for the Wizengamot member's absence. Wizengamot members with a properly sworn medical reason not to attend may present their vote in a magically sealed form. If the Wizengamot member cannot present their vote in a magically sealed form due to medical or legal reasons or death, the vote must be delayed until the Wizengamot member's replacement has been magically accepted by the court. Certified copies of the proposed changes, including full details of the proposed change and justification for the request to change, must be sent to every Wizengamot member at least one month prior to the Wizengamot session scheduled for the vote on the change. Any requests to clarification and the clarifications provided must be supplied to every Wizengamot member. Formal confirmation of receipt of all documentation relating to the proposed change must be registered for every Wizengamot member at least two weeks prior to the scheduled voting session, otherwise the proposed voting session must be delayed until this condition has been met. In the scheduled Wizengamot voting session, if the proposed rule change is not supported by at least three quarters of the total number of votes in the Wizengamot, the proposed change must be rejected_….."

She looked up at Dumbledore. "So you see Mister Dumbledore, the requirements to make any changes to the Rules of the Wizengamot are quite clear… And rightly so, because any changes to these rules have the potential to change the way that Magical Britain is governed. _No_ vote can be held on a change to the Rules of the Wizengamot unless every member of the Wizengamot has confirmed that they have received the full documentation in regard to the change, along with any queries and clarifications, and that they have had time to review and consider every possible aspect of the change. _Every_ Wizengamot member must be present and vote, and if the proposal is not supported by at least three quarters of the total number of Wizengamot votes, it _must_ be rejected…"

"Now Mister Marcus Fawley, the _official _Wizengamot Clerk of the Court, who was apparently excluded from this session of your's for some reason, has helpfully provided us with the current total number of votes for the Upper _and_ Lower Wizengamot and the number of votes that would be required for a change to the Rules of the Wizengamot to be voted in. The total votes in the Wizengamot at this time is one thousand three hundred and thirty two, which means that at least _one thousand _votes would have been required for a change to the rules to be passed… Mister Fawley, you know the makeup of the Wizengamot better than anyone, would you be able to give me an estimate of how many votes these thirty five Wizengamot members could have mustered between them, plus Minister Fudge and Mister Dumbledore of course?"

The Clerk of the Court looked at the group for a while, adding up the votes he knew they had. "I'd say between three hundred and twenty and three hundred and forty votes with known proxies Madam Marchbanks, though there may be up to sixty or seventy more if there were other members voting who aren't here, as I said I wasn't at the session so I don't know who was."

"Thank you Mister Fawley, we don't expect you to know these things when you were excluded from the session. I believe that you have proved my point anyway."

She turned back to Dumbledore. "You see Mister Dumbledore? Even leaving aside all the _other_ requirements for a legitimate vote to change the Rules of the Wizengamot that you failed to meet, you would have had at most about forty percent of the _minimum_ number of votes that you would have needed to get this amendment passed. The fact that whoever you had attending the session in the guise of the Clerk of the Court has no doubt recorded the proposal as having passed and is probably as we speak organising the notices to tell Wizengamot members that they no longer have their hereditary voting rights does not mean anything, as the magic of the court would have rejected it. Though I hope that your people haven't been silly enough to send any of those notices out, because most of the Wizengamot members I know would react very badly to someone trying to steal what rightfully belongs to their family….. Oh dear! Amelia, can you imagine how Duke Potter will react if someone has been silly enough to send _him_ one of those notices? I think it's time to take that holiday I was talking about, as I certainly don't want to be here when he goes after the people who tried to do this!" While she was addressing those last words to Amelia, Griselda was giving Dumbledore a grim smile, and so was Amelia, as everyone there was coming to see that this had been his stupid idea to try and force Harry to come back and fight this.

Most of the people in the audience were looking stunned at what had come out up on the stage. Some were looking worried, but more than a few were looking impressed at hearing that there were hard rules in place to stop anyone trying to pull a stunt like this. There were also more than a few who were giving Dumbledore murderous looks and malicious grins, because what Harry Potter had said about what would happen to anyone trying to take anything from his and his betrotheds' houses had been reported in detail, so the ones who were starting to question the old man were looking forward to the showdown that was coming.

* * *

Just at that moment, something appeared on the stage, a bundle of big red cylinders with a classic wind up bedside alarm clock on top. Amelia knew the moment she saw it who had sent this, and that it wouldn't really be what it was meant to depict, because this was an overdone cartoon version of the stereotypical Muggle timebomb. She grabbed Griselda's hand and started pulling her towards the stairs to get off the stage, Harry had to have sent this so she knew that it wouldn't hurt the people standing around the stage, but she didn't want to be up on that stage with the ones it _was_ intended for.

Griselda looked a question at her and she nodded to the 'bomb' whispering. "_That's_ Harry's answer."

That was enough for it to suddenly change from her pulling Griselda along to Griselda pulling _her_ along as Griselda got the point. Griselda Marchbanks was no fool, she wanted to see this but she didn't want to be in the middle of it.

The second hand hit the 12 and the bells at the top of the alarm clock started clattering, then there was a massive, and quite impressive, burst of wizarding fireworks erupting from the bundle. When the fireworks died down, Fudge was standing there in a full clown's outfit and makeup, with his lime green bowler hat (bearing a red 'DUNCE' hatband) so that no-one could mistake him for anything but the Minister for Magic.

~~ OK, I'll warn you _again_, no implied nudity this time but the following could be a disturbing image for some. ~~

Dumbledore was dressed in a backless and strapless red sequinned evening dress that was slit all the way up to the hip, with purple gloves most of the way up his arms, _big_ fake boobs, stripper heels, a long, flaming red wig and _really_ overdone makeup, purple eye shadow, bright red lipstick and bedazzled eyelashes that were at least three centimetres long. Some of the younger ones who knew the Muggle world recognised that Dumbledore was supposed to be Jessica Rabbit, but it was obvious to most of them that he made a terrible drag queen. Fudge should thank his lucky stars his name wasn't Roger.

Those in the audience who were under forty and watched television in the Muggle world also recognised the very flamboyant and famous character that Delores Umbridge was meant to be, with a bouffant hot pink mullet, disco ball earrings and a tuxedo covered in sequinned stars, it could only be Elton John. Of course, the clattering flip clock thingy hanging in midair above her that those with quick eyes could read gave the game away, because it was flipping between THE BITCH IS BACK, YOU'RE SO VAIN, and THICK AS A BRICK. When it stopped clattering, it was displaying THE BITCH IS BACK. Delores started singing as the music blasted out, strutting across the stage and playing it up as Elton did. Fudge and Dumbledore joined her in belting out the chorus each time, while doing a sort of skipping dance.

At the end of the song she finished on her knees and gesturing for applause, and the flip clock thingy started clattering again. It stopped on YOU'RE SO VAIN this time and she started singing to Dumbledore, who kept striking the sort of poses you'd expect from the type of over the top drag queen he was made up to be.

When You're So Vain finished, Dumbledore threw his arms around Fudge and laid a big sloppy kiss on him as the clock thingy started clattering again, stopping on THICK AS A BRICK. Delores was singing to Fudge this time (obviously), while Fudge did a hokey little dance that looked like the depiction of a hoedown in a corney old cartoon, having trouble with the footwork because of his big clown shoes. The ones who knew the song were just glad that it was the three minute Radio edit and not the first side of the LP, which ran for nearly twenty three minutes.

By the time she had finished Thick as a Brick, half of the people in front of the stage had collapsed on the floor from laughing so hard, but what Amelia noted even if others hadn't was that the glamours, if that was what they were, hadn't been cancelled, so she didn't think that Harry was going to let them off that lightly. That was when an owl patronus swept across the Atrium and stopped above the stage, looking at the three figures trying to get their breath back for a minute or so before it started to speak in Harry's voice.

"Don't you all look great? You should stay just like that…. Oh that's right, you will! For a while anyway…. I won't spoil the surprise by telling you how long that will be, but I suppose I should warn you that every time someone tries to break the enchantments, it will extend the period you keep looking like that, and the extensions will double with every attempt. My understanding is that they're all linked so if one of you tries anything you'll all have to stay that way for longer. There might also be a trigger that will make the effects permanent, but Luna and I couldn't work out exactly what our Mums were saying about that in their notes, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens… Oh, and from what I was reading we can call for an encore!"

The owl turned around to face the people in the Atrium. "Who remembers what Delores' song was?"

A hesitant voice said. "The bitch is back?"

The flip clock suddenly appeared in the air above Umbridge and started clattering. The moment it stopped on THE BITCH IS BACK, the music kicked off and she started belting out her theme song, with the other two doing their song and dance act for the chorus again.

When she finished, trying to find her wand so that she could curse someone, a more confident voice in the back called out "You're So Vain!" and the flip clock appeared and started churning again. It was obvious that people were going to be having fun with this.

* * *

When 'You're so Vain' finished, Umbridge ran off before anything else could be done to her and Harry's voice started speaking again. "You shouldn't have set up my parents, Uncle Frank and Auntie Alice and Pandora like that Albus. Mum and Auntie Pandora were brilliant, and we found out that _they_ were the ones who had created all the more interesting pranks that Dad and the others pulled off. They kept the more elaborate ones like today's fun and games to themselves though, because Auntie Minnie would have known straight away that Dad and Uncle Siri wouldn't have been able to think them up. What that means is that we've got several notebooks that are full of really inventive pranks like this one that we've been dying to try out."

Most people who had known Lily Evans and Pandora Cathbad blanched at that, because the idea of what those two could come up with for a full scale prank war was frightening. What they didn't realise of course was that much of what Harry had just said was a lie…. Mind you the truth, that he, Hermione and Luna had put their heads together to extend the runes based transformation prank that Lily and Pandora came up with but decided was too dangerous to let Jamie and his friends play with, would have frightened them even more if they knew.

How long the effects of the original transformations lasted depended on how strong the victim's magic was, so Umbridge would probably revert to her normal tasteless self in less than an hour, and Fudge would be close behind. Dumbledore's effects would hopefully last until he went to bed that night if they were lucky, and he didn't break his neck trying to run in those heels. If someone could find and work out how to decode the transformation runes they could cancel the effects, but it would probably be safer to just let it play out and not risk any unwanted side effects of their efforts.

But it was the extensions which had made this diabolical. They had obtained hair and the like from each of them so that they could specifically tailor the effects and link them to each victim. They also took a leaf out of Dumbledore's book and using rune based compulsions to make them behave as required on cue. The problem for Dumbledore, Fudge and Umbridge was that these compulsions didn't require as much magic as the physical transformations or special effects to maintain, so they'd last much longer. Oh, someone qualified might be able to find the runes under their makeup which had been placed on them in that initial fireworks display and decode and remove them to cancel the effects, but with any luck they'd be too afraid to let anyone try, especially as the triggers that had been planted to set off the compulsions would also reinitialise the physical transformations and special effects for a while, though they would work for shorter intervals over time until they faded out altogether. Harry and the girls had been planning this for months, waiting for the best opportunity to use it, and that stunt of Dumbledore and Fudge's had made this the time to do so, as they would have trouble getting anyone to take them seriously after this.

* * *

"Don't rely on us restricting this to pranks though, as Baroness Marchbanks wasn't too far off about what will happen if Hermione, Luna or I get a letter saying that we've lost our Wizengamot votes, the fact that I know you can't take them off us doesn't mean that I won't punish you for _trying_ to take them off us Dumbledore!"

His voice suddenly went lower and filled with menace. "And I will never forget that you are responsible for people I love being killed and hurt _either_ Dumbledore, your time is coming! _Strike a pose!_"

The moment he said 'Strike a pose!', the music of 'You're So Vain' started playing and Dumbledore started going through the same routine as he had the last time it played.

Fudge looked relieved, until he heard an evil chuckle from the owl. "You didn't think I missed what you said about me to the Prophet did you Minister? Just as a matter of interest, do you have trouble sitting down after Dumbledore and the Death Eaters are done with using you as their hand puppet? _Dance Forrest!_"

That made 'Thick as a Brick' start playing as Fudge danced his hokey little dance again, looking terrified. Was it just Potter who could make him do this, or would it happen whenever _anyone_ called that out as they passed him in the corridor? How could those two witches have come up with all this? One of them was just a Mudblood for Merlin's sake! For that matter, how had Potter put this together this quickly? It was hardly half an hour ago that Bones came charging up onto the stage, it wasn't _possible_ for them to do all this in that time! He shuffled off as soon as he could stop dancing, desperate to get away from Potter's vengeance.

Dumbledore was also looking terrified when he finished his act and the owl gave another chuckle that sent a shiver down his spine. "Awww, what's wrong Albie? You look Divine…. Actually you pull off that dress much better than he would because you're only a third of his weight if that…. But I'd make sure your little friends haven't sent any of those letters off yet if I were you Albus because as Baroness Marchbanks said, most representatives of Noble Houses and above would almost certainly challenge you to a duel for trying to take away what they regard as being rightfully their's and I don't know whether you'd be able to find your wand in that dress…." The owl shook its head in a very human gesture of disgust. "Let's pretend I didn't say that last, shall we? That's an image I'll definitely be trying to get out of my head! Anyway, off you toddle, but do be careful, my cousin says that stripper heels are very hard to run in, and so does my only female cousin silly enough to try it."

The ones who got the joke laughed as Dumbledore stumbled down off the stage and tottered off, hoping that he could stop those letters going out.

* * *

With Bozo, Jessica and Elton gone, the owl patronus turned back to the people in the Atrium. "Well that was fun, but the fact is that this situation came about because you, the people of Magical Britain, are still giving those bastards the support they need to pull stunts like this! _Open your eyes_! Dumbledore and Fudge and the supporters of that blood purity dragon shite are going to let those Death Eater bastards bring their master back and do whatever they want to you!... Dumbledore because it fits into some master plan he has to come in to save the day and be hailed as your world's saviour again after enough of you have been tortured, raped and slaughtered to make him look properly heroic….. Fudge because he'll do whatever the ones who give him gold tell him to, and he actually believes that he _deserves_ to be respected, just because you idiots let him become Dumbledore and the Death Eaters' Puppet Minister... And the bigots because they're determined to maintain the status quo with _them_ in control, it just wouldn't do to let the rest of you scum get the idea to demand the equality that is your's by right. Didn't you learn your lesson after the war when Dumbledore, the Wizengamot and the Ministry let most of their Death Eater cousins buy their way out of Azkaban and retain their places at the top of heap in Magical Britain, using gold that they stole from _your_ families and friends when they tortured, raped and killed them? And you wonder why I'm not prepared to come back and save you from them again... even though it wasn't me in the first place, it was my Mum who most of you would have the gall to call a Mudblood, even if it's under your breath?….."

"Sorry, that was more of a speech than I was planning to make, it felt good to get it off my chest though, and hopefully some of you at least will start thinking about what's rotten in the state of Denmark….. Don't worry, that was just a reference to something from the works of the Squib playwright who wrote under the nom de plume of William Shakespeare, which my lovely betrothed got her name from. Take a bow Hermione..."

That made some people look around to see the Boy-Who-Lived standing over by the fountain with his two betrothed, one of whom was curtsying to the crowd, but they disappeared without a sound when people started surging their way. When the crowd looked back at the stage they saw that the owl patronus was gone as well.

The journalists in the crowd started trying to push their way through to the floos, desperate to get back to their offices so that they could get everything that had happened here written up and wondering how much they could get away with including. The fact that the Chief Warlock and the Minister for Magic had been colluding to try and take away the hereditary Wizengamot voting rights of anyone who didn't agree with them and they were only stopped by the ironclad Rules of the Wizengamot was explosive, the prank directed at them and that toad Umbridge was delicious, but dicey to report… under their own names anyway, but if a squib could get away with using a nom de plume, why couldn't they?... But that last speech from Harry Potter, who turned his back on Magical Britain for its support of those who had made his young life a living hell was the most dangerous, and what at least half of them desperately wanted to report. They couldn't see how they could have closed their eyes to what was right in front of them. They could see now that everything he said (except for Dumbledore's plan maybe, it was hard to believe that he could be _that_ evil) was true, they all knew that Malfoy and the rest of the Death Eaters had been guilty as hell but they let the Ministry and the Wizengamot get away with letting them off because most of them were related, and they'd never questioned where they got all that gold from, but it was obvious when you stopped to think about it.

To help them along, each of the newspaper offices received reams of material explaining the timebomb the prank started with, Clowns, hill-billy stereotypes (with a few titbits about inbreeding in hope of spurring some people into thinking), cartoon caricatures, Forrest Gump, the phrase Thick as a Brick, the cartoon character Jessica Rabbit, drag queens (with pictures of Divine to explain Harry's comment) and Reginald Dwight's Elton John persona for those who weren't muggle savvy. Unfortunately none of them were brave enough to touch Jessica Rabbit's catch phrase of 'I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way' or Forrest Gump's 'Stupid is as stupid does' though. Apparently more than a few had been heard to comment that this had given them a better understanding of the Muggle world than Muggle Studies at Hogwarts ever did, and some of the papers actually used this as the basis for articles pointing out that Magical Britain didn't have a clue about the contemporary Muggle world any more.

The Daily Prophet's editor was too afraid of the Minister's cronies and the Pureblood Nobles to print most of the details his reporters came back from the announcement at the Ministry with, but their articles were still explosive by the Prophet's standards. Harry was shocked to see that his impromptu speech at the end was reported verbatum, it had a disclaimer to say that it in no way represented the beliefs of the Daily Prophet of course, but it was reported accurately, the reporters must have convinced the editor that everyone in the Atrium had heard it and it would look like the Prophet was trying to cover it up if they were the only ones who didn't report what was said. It also reported verbatum what was required to make any changes to the Rules of the Wizengamot, because that was something that could be held up with pride, though it made excuses for Dumbledore and Fudge not knowing the rules and trying to make what was obviously a self serving change.

Harry laughed when he saw that some reporter had managed to slip in what would trigger repeat performances from Dumbledore, Fudge and Umbridge. Hopefully they'd get hit with them a few times before the effects faded altogether, but that would be a couple of days at best for Fudge and Umbridge and maybe a week for Dumbledore.

It was interesting to see that he wasn't being attacked for the pranks or his speech. He didn't know whether it was because they were still holding onto their hope that he'd come back and be their knight in shining armour, or they accepted that he wasn't the bad guy here, but he'd take it either way.

He asked Auntie Andi to turn up the heat on taking down those seven houses that they'd identified as stealing from them, because they represented enough votes to hurt Dumbledore and the Death Eaters in the Wizengamot. It was also agreed that they'd turn up the heat on calling in the debts owed to their houses and the compensation for those attacks on Frank and Andi in the Wizengamot, because that would take one hell of a lot of gold and more than a few votes away from the other side too.

They knew that Dumbledore and Fudge would be trying to get back at Harry for making them objects of ridicule and exposing their plans and corruption, and Amelia and Griselda for exposing and defeating their attempt to take control of the Wizengamot, but Amelia and Griselda were the ones in the positions of greatest risk and they were confident that they were safe from reprisals. Amelia may have been more worried if Susan was still at Hogwarts, but she was safely out of the country and Amelia's French equivalent had posted some of his Aurors at Beauxbatons to ward off any reprisals directed at Susan, Neville and Megan, not to mention that they also had Hagrid there to look out for them and he was quite competent with defence now.


	10. Albus Dumbledore, Dark Lord

**This chapter isn't as light hearted as the last chapter, in fact it's rather dark. There is some rather disturbing/disgusting subject matter discussed around the halfway mark, but its location is indicated.**

**BTW: The Spring Equinox is associated with rebirth, so it seemed the right time for that ritual.**

**Usual disclaimer, no rights to anything from JKR's stories.**

The stories about what happened in the Atrium of Britain's Ministry of Magic spread across the Magical world, because the story of Harry Potter was known far and wide, as was Albus Dumbledore's. The difference was that, while neither of their legends were as big in the rest of their world as they were in Britain, Harry Potter being so blessed by the Fates to not only be saved from Voldemort, but to be the instrument of his downfall still made him a popular figure, while Albus Dumbledore still playing on his stopping Grindelwald nearly fifty years before to try and compel the Magical world to obey his every whim meant that the views of him outside Magical Britain had become rather jaded.

This meant that the news media outside Magical Britain kept up the reporting of the events there for a lot longer than they did in Britain. There was plenty of material to keep it going, there was the incredible magic and embarrassment of the pranks directed at three rather unpopular figures, Albus Dumbledore, Chief Warlock of Magical Britain's Wizengamot, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, Cornelius Fudge, Minister for Magic of Magical Britain and Delores Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic of Magical Britain. Of the three, Fudge was the least reviled outside of Magical Britain, simply because it was well known that he was nothing more than an ineffectual joke.

Given that Umbridge had no power or influence over anything outside Magical Britain either meant that she was also ineffectual, but the difference between the two of them was that Fudge's insults to representatives of other countries were generally inadvertent, a result of his ignorance, stupidity and misplaced pride, which meant that he irritated the representatives of other countries quite often but rarely managed to really raise their ire. Umbridge, on the other hand, was a vile creature with no redeeming qualities and a totally unjustified sense of superiority who liberally dished out insults and orders to anyone who she regarded as unworthy, which as far as most of the Magical world could ascertain meant anyone who wasn't a 'proper' British Pureblood who completely agreed with her views on the world.

Needless to say, this won her no friends outside the privileged few who _were_ 'worthy' in her eyes, so the memories of her performances as the Muggle performer Elton John were played and critiqued at every opportunity. The memories of her being chastised by Baroness Griselda Marchbanks and reminded of her own humble origins by Madam Amelia Bones in Magical Britain's Wizengamot had also 'slipped out' somehow.

* * *

This led to some quite diligent investigative journalism being encouraged by news outlets outside of Magical Britain to uncover how she had implemented extremely questionable and at best borderline illegal practices for the purpose of vilifying and discouraging magical children from non-magical families, and quite often denying them the opportunity to fulfil their magical potential due to having their magic being bound and their memories of magic removed after they had episodes of accidental magic. This had more than once caused serious breaches of the Statute of Secrecy as some of the ones with stronger magic had even more uncontrolled outbursts of accidental magic after their magical ability had grown enough to overcome the bindings, and due to their memories being removed they had no idea of how to handle their magic when it broke out.

Delores Umbridge was a witch of extremely limited ability but great ambition who was close mouthed about her upbringing, but what came out was that she was basically a muggle-raised half-blood because her father was barely a wizard, a stupid, petty little man with very little in the way of magic, education, looks or personality who was the last dregs of a rather mediocre common wizarding family. The only job Orford Umbridge could get was as a lowly cleaner at the Ministry, because the only criteria used there was blood status, and he never had any luck with witches either, so he went looking for companionship in the muggle world and ended up getting a drunk, lonely and desperate muggle woman pregnant. Like most bigots, he desperately clung onto the one thing he could use to claim that he was better than anyone else, the fact that he was a wizard (no matter how pathetic a wizard he was), so he couldn't admit that he was with a muggle, but he wasn't prepared to give up his one chance of having a family either so he hid his pregnant wife away in a dingy little flat on the fringes of the muggle world. He was just using his wife for sex and childcare after his daughter was born and she ended up getting pregnant again a few years later, but their son turned out to be a squib and when he was sure that the boy would never be a wizard he kicked him and his mother out.… at least the investigators hoped that was what happened, they just disappeared sometime in Umbridge's Third Year at Hogwarts.

The fact that Umbridge shared her father's rabid blood bigotry and her shame about having a muggle mother was regarded by many to be the root cause of her hatred of those from non-magical backgrounds, which in turn was accepted as the reason she chose a career in the Improper Use of Magic Office, so she could use her position to persecute magical children from non-magical families for having greater magical ability than her when she regarded them as being inferior to her, as her father at least was magical.

The answer to Baroness Marchbanks' query about how Umbridge had qualified for the position of Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic was also controversial, because the records showed that on the recommendation of the supposedly _ex_-Death-Eater 'Lord' Lucius Malfoy, the required qualifications for the position had been waived on the basis that Umbridge was a 'witch of impeccable values'. The editorial linked to this article pondered whether 'impeccable values' merely meant that she embraced and promoted all the same views and prejudices as 'Lord' Voldemort's Death Eaters.

The articles outing what had been discovered about Umbridge gave the rest of Magical Europe ample opportunities to question the values of Magical Britain if witches like _her_ were allowed to become one of their senior representatives, especially when she had been given her position by a murdering Death Eater who killed his own son when he deliberately introduced a dark object into Britain's premier magical school with the intention of resurrecting his Dark Lord. Fudge was having difficulty justifying keeping Umbridge on as his Senior Undersecretary after her story came out, but the people who were supplying most of his gold wanted her there to do their dirty work so he kept coming up with inane excuses for failing to get rid of her.

Of course that wasn't doing Fudge any favours and his credibility was at an all time low (and for the man who'd been the biggest joke of the Magical world since his puppet masters got him voted into office, that was pretty low) after supporting Dumbledore's aborted attempt to change the Rules of the Wizengamot, so he was struggling. His continuing support of the foul creature Umbridge had been exposed as was also nudging the way he was regarded by the rest of the Magical world from the irritating buffoon he had been seen as before, to being actively reviled as one of the ones the Magical world would better off without, but most of the Magical world was still willing to leave him in place as Magical Britain's Minister for Magic so long as they didn't have to deal with him.

* * *

For all the sniping going on at Umbridge and Fudge though, the Magical Media's primary target was Albus Dumbledore, who quickly went from being respectfully referred to as Professor Dumbledore or Grand Mugwump Dumbledore (no matter how grudgingly) to Albus Dumbledore, the Queen of Magical Britain and then the Queen of Hearts. Those who didn't know the Muggle world or Muggle literature didn't get the Queen of Hearts reference at first, but the caricatures of Dumbledore in his Jessica Rabbit outfit and a crown pointing at figures who were recognisable as Harry Potter and other members of the Druid Alliance and saying 'Off with his/her head!' gave them the gist of the idea. Most got the point after the Queen of Hearts character in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (or Alice in Wonderland as it was more commonly known), and the fact that Harry Potter and the Druid Alliance had been the primary targets of Dumbledore's abortive attempt to change the Rules of Magical Britain's Wizengamot were explained.

After the drag queen incident which received considerable coverage right across the Magical world, no-one had trouble getting the queen angle, it was only the Queen of Hearts' penchant for demanding that anyone who crossed her in any way be eliminated that required explanation, and the recent attempt to slip in a change to the Wizengamot Rules wasn't the first time Dumbledore had tried that. Senior people in the ICW had plenty of stories and evidence of him getting rid of those who stood in the way of his plans over the past fifty years or so, and Harry knew from painful experience that the old bastard was just as callous as the Queen of Hearts.

The investigative journalists who had managed to uncover Umbridge's sordid past couldn't understand how they had managed to completely miss Dumbledore's dirty little secrets until they got some tips that pointed them in the right direction, but that was explained when the fact that the Dumbledore Family had been famous as masters of mind magics up until the end of the Nineteenth Century came out….. Which just happened to be when the Albus Dumbledore, the new Head of the Dumbledore Family, was establishing himself. It was also when everyone in the family but him and his brother Aberforth died mysteriously, and Aberforth had been gravely injured.

Discovering that Albus Dumbledore and his supposed arch-enemy Gellert Grindelwald had in fact been lovers made them start looking into how he came to fight that epic battle with his ex-lover and kill him... because that was what all the history books said happened in 1945…. But it was another tip suggesting that they go to Nurmengard and ask Grindelwald what really happened that blew the lid off the story, because Grindelwald testified under Veritaserum and supplied the memories to prove that there was no battle, his lover had taken him out by cursing him in the back while he was distracted in the afterglow of sex and he woke up in a cell.

* * *

The rest of the Magical world were getting as frustrated as Harry was with Magical Britain, because it didn't matter how much proof they had of Dumbledore, Fudge, Umbridge and the Death Eaters' activities, the majority of Magical Britain supported them and dismissed the evidence against them as lies. In the end the ICW decided that if they couldn't force Britain to do the right thing, they would have to restrict Magical Britain's corruption _to_ Magical Britain.

Dumbledore and Fudge ranted, raved and threatened reprisals when Dumbledore was ousted from his positions as both the ICW's Supreme Mugwump and ICW Representative for Magical Britain, and Thaddeus Nott was ousted from his position as Magical Britain's other ICW Representative (along with a few more Representatives from other countries who had been doing dodgy deals with the two of them), and the ICW threw Britain's Ministry of Magic's own arguments back in its face, saying that they would not allow outside bodies to dictate to them who would hold offices within their organisation. The ICW cited the conclusive evidence of Dumbledore's lies about killing Grindelwald and corrupting ICW officials in order to have his lover secretly being maintained in the lap of luxury in Nurmengard so that he could visit him whenever he wished, his attempt to illegally modify the Rules of Magical Britain's Wizengamot and the instigation of restrictive trade agreements purely to further his and his associates' interests to justify his expulsion, and they showed enough evidence that Nott was bribing ICW officials to implement preferential trade agreements for him and his associates to get rid of him as well. They also added the caveat that they had the right to reject any proposed replacements for ICW Representatives who failed the vetting process that had been implemented after discovering the corruption that had been all too prevalent with previous representatives.

After three months of having every one of the Traditional Purebloods they submitted as prospective ICW Representatives rejected by the ICW, the Ministry gave in and submitted some of the Druid Alliance and Progressive Alliance representatives who were applying for the ICW Representative positions, and were pissed off when two of them passed the vetting process without any trouble and were accepted by the ICW. Fudge's puppet masters were even more pissed off when it was confirmed that, as expected, the new ICW Representatives rejected all pressure and bribes to get the agreements they wanted pushed through. Even worse, they reported the ones who tried to bribe or pressure them to the ICW so their business interests were blacklisted.

While they had seriously curtailed Dumbledore's influence outside Britain though, so far he had retained his position as the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and Headmaster of Hogwarts, and his and Fudge's factions were managing to block Madam Marchbanks' proposal for a Wizengamot Rule Change that required that anyone be precluded from sitting as the Chief Warlock or Chief Witch unless they could prove that they had read and understood the Rules and Laws of the Wizengamot and had sworn an oath to comply with them.

Between what the Druid Alliance had taken off them and losing more and more of their preferential trade agreements which cut into their income considerably, the Traditional Pureblood Houses were hurting now though. As well as losing a large proportion of their gold, they had lost a fair percentage of the voting majority they'd used to retain control of the Wizengamot. It hadn't taken many of the Neutral Seats to change sides and vote with the Druids and Progressives for the vote to go against them on a few issues and that was a trend that they did _not_ want to see continue!

The Traditional Purebloods did everything they could to stamp out the posters that had suddenly cropped up all over the place, which depicted Dumbledore as the Queen of Hearts holding court with Fudge as a court jester, Umbridge as a rather ugly bulldog, Barty Crouch as Adolph Hitler, other prominent Purebloods as Nazi Generals and the better known Death Eaters in their Death Eater robes holding their masks. Dumbledore was pointing at a laughing Harry, saying 'Off with his head!' and Macnair was standing there in his Death Eater robes with his axe raised as the executioner….. But no matter what they did to get rid of the posters, they would be replaced in a matter of hours (which should have been a clue, because house elves were the only ones who could do that sort of thing on that large a scale). Of course Hitler and the Nazi Generals had to be explained to the Purebloods, even those who had been around in Grindelwald's day, and when it was they redoubled their efforts to stamp out the posters, but it didn't do them any good.

The point of the posters was to try and get the people of Magical Britain to open their eyes to what their world had become. It was too much to expect them to think for themselves, but couldn't they accept the truth of what was all around them? Sadly, the answer to that seemed to be 'no', because the sheeple just kept believing whatever Dumbledore said.

* * *

This only got worse when Dumbledore was able to claim that he was proven right about Voldemort, even though he was partly responsible for two students' suffering and deaths. Amelia, the Unspeakables and the goblins had been tracking down and destroying Tom Riddle's soul anchors, but the second one he'd made was missing when they went to retrieve it from the Gaunts' cottage in Little Haggleton. They found out why when Alastor Moody activated a hidden alarm he carried and the DMLE and Unspeakables converged on his location, because Alastor Moody would never call for help unless he was really in trouble and that meant _serious_ trouble by anyone else's standards.

That location turned out to be the graveyard at Little Haggleton. Alastor was tied to a headstone but he wasn't alone, he was with the Death Eater Barty Crouch Junior, who was supposed to be dead but was for some reason very much alive and clutching at the bleeding stump where his left arm finished, along with Thaddeus Nott and a hideous humanoid figure rising from a huge cauldron. There was a flash as Hedwig appeared in her owl form and cried out. "That's Riddle in the cauldron! Bind his soul into that body and destroy it!"

The Unspeakables who had been involved in the hunt for the soul anchors didn't hesitate when Harry Potter's familiar appeared and told them that, they were casting the binding spell as soon as she finished, while the Aurors engaged Crouch and Nott. As soon as the soul was bound into the body, they all started raining spells down on the body until the potion suddenly caught alight and it was obliterated in a ball of fire.

By the time the potion had finished burning, there was nothing left but a crusty substance, a few bones and a ring in the cauldron. They cleaned off the ring and sealed into a secure container before using Fiendfyre to ensure that not a trace remained of anything else in the cauldron. The reason they kept the ring was that it was the missing soul anchor from the Gaunts' cottage, so they wanted to ensure that no trace of Riddle's soul remained in it.

They got the story out of Alastor when he stopped cursing himself for allowing scum like that to surprise him and capture him. They'd apparently jumped him just as he was arriving home that evening and stunned him, and he'd come to tied to the headstone without his leg, magical eye or any of his wands or other magical devices…. Except for the runestone he had embedded under the skin in his hand that he'd used to call them once he'd managed to push it into a position where he could activate it. The resurrection ritual had apparently required the bone of the father…. it was apparently Riddle's father's remains underneath him…. The flesh of a servant, that was what happened to Crouch's hand, the blood of an enemy, which was why he was tied to Riddle's father's headstone with his arm sliced open, and…..

~~~~~ Warning, references to rather disturbing subject matter relating to rape, torture and death over the next fourteen paragraphs or so. ~~~~~

Most of them were taken aback when Moody started crying then, because they didn't think he _ever_ cried, but he told them that Crouch and Nott had also had a young blonde witch of about twelve there and they had been getting their jollies out of taking their time ritually butchering her for the virgin sacrifice they needed for the ritual. The poor wee lass had been terrified, screaming in agony and begging them to stop the entire time…. It had actually been her screaming that woke him up and she'd kept screaming right up until they pushed her head under the potion in the cauldron. He also told them that Nott had been going off at Crouch for making a mistake so that they suddenly had to cut the process short, saying that that he was supposed to have been practising on the Abbott girl so that didn't happen. Those images made half of the Aurors throw up but Amelia whispered in horror.

"Oh no! The sacrifice must have been Sally-Anne Perks! She disappeared on her way home for Easter two days ago but Dumbledore told her parents that she was staying with a friend for Easter so they told us to stop looking for her…. There was no mention of Hannah Abbott though... That_ bastard!_ We might have had a chance to save those poor girls if he hadn't been too busy worrying about his little schemes to bother with his missing students!"

With that she apparated away to Hogwarts. Moody barked at some of the Aurors to get after her and stop her before she killed the old bastard and then told the others to get Crouch and Nott into secure holding cells without anyone else finding out about them.

* * *

Everyone jumped when the doors of the Great Hall crashed open and the Director of the DMLE stormed in like a rampaging Valkyrie. "Dumbledore! Give me the name of the one who told you that Sally-Anne Perks was planning to spend the Easter Break with a friend! And where's Hannah Abbott?"

"What are you talking about Amelia?"

"That's Madam Bones or Director Bones when I'm questioning you on official DMLE business! Now answer my questions damn you! Who told you that Miss Perks was planning to spend Easter with a friend instead of going home and where's Hannah Abbott?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about _Madam_ Bones."

"You told Miss Perks' parents that she was staying with a friend for Easter. Did anyone actually tell _you_ that, or did you just make it up to stop them wasting your time with silly questions about how you lost their daughter while she was in your care?"

"I did no such thing…."

Amelia cut him off by barking orders at the Aurors who had just run into the Great Hall. "Aurors! Arrest Albus Percival Dumbledore on suspicion of being an accomplice to Bartemius Crouch Junior and Thaddeas Nott's kidnapping, torture and murder of Sally-Anne Perks and possible kidnapping, torture and murder of Hannah Abbott!"

There was clatter as Minerva dropped the goblet she'd been holding halfway to her mouth since Amelia crashed through the doors and whispered _"No?"_, aghast.

Amelia nodded grimly. "Miss Perks' parents called _Headmaster_ Dumbledore when they couldn't find her at Kings Cross Station and he told them that she was staying with a friend for Easter, presumably because he couldn't be bothered wasting his precious time worrying about finding their daughter, who had had the temerity to disappear while she was in Hogwarts' care, so they told the DMLE Patrol Officers who were organising a search at the station that they could stop looking for her because Sally-Anne must have just forgotten to tell them. From what Alastor Moody told us when we turned up just in time to destroy the newly resurrected Voldemort and save _him_, Barty Crouch Junior and Thaddeus Nott kidnapped her when she got off the Hogwarts Express to use her as the virgin sacrifice they needed for the resurrection ritual. Alastor was in tears as he told us how they were getting their jollies out of dragging out the ritual butchering as long as they could and that the poor little thing was screaming and begging them to stop the entire time until they pushed her head under the potion in the cauldron. If that _bastard _had been too busy worrying about everything _but_ the well being of the students in his care, we might have had a chance to find her and save her because that was two damned days ago! And Alastor heard Nott berating Crouch about making the mistake which made them suddenly cut the butchering process short, saying that he was supposed to have been practising on the Abbott girl so he didn't mess it up, so she's almost certainly been killed as well. If we'd kept looking long enough to find out that Perks had been with Abbott, we could have used Abbott's locator bracelets to find both of them straight away."

She sent a look of loathing after Dumbledore as she added, dejected. "Now I have to go and tell the Perks that not only do we believe that their daughter is dead, they may have inadvertently had a hand in her death, just because they believed that the Great Albus Bloody Dumbledore could do no wrong, and tell Hannah Abbott's mother that we believe that she's dead as well."

* * *

The emergency Wizengamot session where they were trying Barty Crouch Junior (_and_ Senior, as it turned out that he'd broken his son out of Azkaban and then used the Imperius curse to keep him under control for the next ten years) and Thaddeus Nott, as well as Albus Dumbledore for being an accomplice in Sally-Anne Perks and Hannah Abbott's torture and death through covering up Miss Perks' disappearance was the usual travesty of justice. They forced Dumbledore to recuse himself again because he was involved, but his supporters held up proceedings by refusing to let Griselda Marchbanks, Tiberius Ogden or Augusta Longbottom preside because they claimed that the Druids had an axe to grind with Dumbledore. They also stopped the Dark Faction's nominations because they were hardly going to be impartial when Death Eaters were being tried. In the end the only one all the factions could agree on was Elphias Doge. Elphias was a Dumbledore supporter, but most of the Wizengamot were comfortable with his integrity.

They had Crouch and Nott's solicitors demanding to see the ring that had supposedly been used to resurrect Lord Voldemort and getting pissed off when the Unspeakables told them that it had been destroyed once it had been confirmed that no trace of Tom Riddle's magic remained in it, and then claiming that there was no proof that any girl had ever been there, or that their defendants had abducted any girls.

In the end Amelia overrode their and the Wizengamot's objections and played the memories taken from Crouch, Nott and Moody, starting from when Crouch and Nott cast a spell on Hannah Abbott to make sure it worked and then cast it on Sally-Anne Perks to confirm that she was a virgin before abducting both of them from Kings Cross Station. They watched Nott reminding Crouch that Sally-Anne had to remain a virgin, so he could have his fun with the Abbott girl, but _not_ her, and telling him to practise on the Abbott girl to make sure he knew what to do when he was done with her.

Then they had to watch enough to know that Hannah Abbott was raped repeatedly by Crouch over the two days the girls were being held in an old house, then butchered and her body vanished. Sally-Anne Perks wasn't raped, but from what they saw there wasn't much else she was spared in her two day ordeal which ended with Crouch and Nott trying to draw out the ritual butchering for as long as they could while still keeping her alive for the resurrection ritual in the graveyard, she was just lucky that Crouch was still overeager so they had to cut it short and quickly move on to the rest of the ritual. At the end of the watching of those memories, half of the Wizengamot members were throwing up and most of the rest were in shock (Amelia had thrown up privacy charms to stop the Perks, Hannah's mother Rebecca and others in the gallery seeing the memories). Amelia challenged Crouch and Nott's solicitors to identify one single instance where they believed that there could be any cause to question the validity of the memories, seeing as they had seen two separate views of most of the key events of the two days and three separate views of most of the ritual butchering before Sally-Anne Perks died. They just shook their heads because while they may have a reputation for being unscrupulous, they were sickened by what they'd been forced to watch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ End of disturbing subject matter. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Only Dumbledore and Fudge tried to argue against Crouch and Nott receiving the Dementor's Kiss as even the Dark Faction voted for it, the hard core Death Eaters because they knew that they couldn't afford to be seen to be condoning anything like that, but many from the Dark Faction were genuinely disgusted and horrified by what they'd seen those monsters doing, and the only reason Fudge was arguing was that he was desperate not to lose all the gold he got from Nott.

It was a struggle to make them hold off on Crouch Junior's sentence being carried out immediately as everyone was demanding, but Amelia managed to fight them off until after they'd questioned both Crouches under Veritaserum and taken memories to confirm that Crouch Junior's mother had taken polyjuice potion to switch places with her son in Azkaban, willingly taking his place and dying in Azkaban as him so that he could escape. They also showed that after breaking his son out of Azkaban by walking him out, polyjuiced as his mother, Crouch Senior had used the unforgivable Imperius curse on his son for ten years to keep him under control, so the Wizengamot and Fudge had to agree to his being sentenced to Azkaban for life, as that was the mandatory sentence for using the unforgivables, especially when they'd been used repeatedly for ten years.

Amelia knew that she was going to lose the battle to get Dumbledore punished for his part in what happened to those poor girls, but she had to try, she only had to think of Susan to make her keep pushing. Dumbledore tried to deny that he'd told the Perks that their daughter had said she was staying with a friend until Amelia played their and the DMLE Officers in earshot of the floo's memories, then he tried to claim that he knew that she was with Hannah Abbott and had heard about the Abbott girl talking about visiting some boys, so he was trying to save them worrying about that when she was bound to turn up in a day or so. Amelia shut that down by playing her own memory of her confrontation with him, which proved that what he'd just said was a lie, and added what she'd said to Minerva, that if the search hadn't been stopped before they discovered that she was with Abbott, they could have used the locator bracelets to find and save them before too much was done to them.

* * *

Dumbledore actually had the gall to try and use misdirection then, saying that they shouldn't be wasting time on matters like this when Voldemort was trying to return, they needed to find a way to make Harry Potter return to Britain to deal with him, but Amelia shot that down by pointing out that if he hadn't lied to the Perks and stopped them searching for the girl, they might have managed to save _both_ girls and prevent the resurrection ritual being performed at all!

Sirius stood to answer the other part of his drivel. "I thought my Godson was quite clear about under what terms he will move back to Magical Britain Mister Dumbledore? He refuses to live in a country that supports lying, thieving murderers like you, the Death Eaters and the rest of the bigots. So all Magical Britain has to do if it wants him to move back here is get rid of you lot. What's so hard to understand about that?"

He suddenly became the very embodiment of a vengeful Duke Black, Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, speaking with a voice full of ice and menace.

"This is your last warning Dumbledore! Stay away from my Godson and his family! According to the experts in the Department of Mysteries _and_ the Goblin Nation, the soul anchor that was in the Gaunt ring was the last piece of Tom Riddle's soul, so he is now _gone __for good__! _He _sh__ould_ have been gone a long time ago but _you_ were determined to play games with the lives of everyone in Magical Britain, if not the Magical world! The healers told us that there was no way that you could have missed Riddle's soul fragment that was left in Harry's scar after that Halloween in Nineteen Eighty One unless you were totally incompetent and while it's tempting to take the position that you _are_ an incompetent idiot, I don't believe you are _that_ incompetent, so we're left with the conclusion that you left the soul fragment of that powerful and evil psychopath in the head of a fifteen month old infant on purpose! I just thank the gods that Harry got enough strength from his mother and father to keep him from succumbing to that damned thing before the Goblin Nation's healers removed it ten years later, just after his eleventh birthday, but it was only by the luck of the gods that he survived and he would have been saved ten years of pain and suffering and it would have been much easier and safer to remove to boot if it was done when he was fifteen months old! If you'd taken him to the experts on Halloween in Eighty One as you should have instead of playing your games they would have quite probably worked out that they needed to hunt down the rest of the soul anchors years ago, so Quirrell could have been the last soul fragment and Riddle could have been gone for good around Halloween Ninety One. And Sally-Anne Perks and Hannah Abbott might still be alive!"

"Don't bother trying to tell us that we'll have to trust that you alone have special knowledge that proves Riddle will return unless we get Harry back here to face him, because we've measured Riddle's soul fragments when they were destroyed so we _know_ that Riddle is gone for good! The diary that possessed Hannah Abbott was the first soul anchor he created, Harry destroyed that in June Ninety Two. The ring used for the resurrection ritual a few days ago was the second anchor created, the soul fragment from the ring was destroyed when they locked it into the body created in the resurrection ritual and then destroyed the body. Slytherin's locket was the third and Hufflepuff's cup the fourth soul anchors created, they were both located and destroyed in September Ninety One. Ravenclaw's Diadem was the fifth anchor created, it was located and destroyed in November Ninety One. The soul fragment that was removed from Harry was the sixth and last soul anchor created, it was destroyed at the end of July Nineteen Ninety One. And the shade of Tom Riddle was bound into Quirinus Quirrell's body and destroyed when they were both passed through the Veil of Death in November Ninety One. In case your Arithmancy is lacking, that means that Tom Riddle had seven soul fragments and they have _all_ been destroyed. This has been confirmed by the fact that the magical records are finally officially showing Tom Riddle as being dead and the Dark Marks of the Death Eaters in custody no longer have any magic in them because their master is gone. So stop trying to rope my Godson into your plans Dumbledore, if you ever come anywhere near him or his family again, we will end you and every memory of your family! What does it say about you old man when the only other Dumbledore left has assured us that he would be quite happy to lose his name if that meant that we had totally destroyed you?"

"You have two choices old man…. Repay everything you've stolen from Harry and leave him and everyone in his family alone, _forever_, or we will do as Aberforth asks!"

As expected, even after the lies Amelia and Sirius exposed, in the end they only managed to get a relatively small damages payment from Dumbledore added to most of the Crouch and Nott fortunes which were forfeited to the Perks and Rebecca Abbott for their daughters' torture and murder, and of course Dumbledore and Fudge's factions blocked them calling for Dumbledore being removed as Headmaster of Hogwarts for putting his scheming above the safety of the children in his charge. The Perks took the quickest approach they could to get away from Magical Britain and the memories of what happened to Sally-Anne, they made the newly elevated Noble and Ancient House of Perks Vassals of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Potter and transferred control of all of their properties, businesses and votes in Magical Britain to the House of Potter. Harry got them and Rebecca Abbott out of Britain straight away and set them up with comfortable lives in Australia, hoping that they would be able to get past the pain of their memories. With the Houses of Nott and Crouch decimated, the Traditional Purebloods had lost two Wizengamot seats, the votes of two Baron and five Baronet's titles and a lot of gold that they'd been depending on to progress their plans.

The only real win out of that sad affair was when Griselda Marchbanks stood up and argued that _this_ was why they needed to ensure that _every_ Chief Wizard or Chief Witch allowed to preside over the Wizengamot understood and had sworn an oath to comply with the Rules and Laws of the Wizengamot, because Dumbledore had been trying to stop Crouch and Nott getting the Dementor's Kiss right up until it was done. Even his staunchest supporters couldn't understand how he could argue with that sentence after he saw what had been done to those innocent children (Hannah Abbott may not have been as pure as the driven snow but there was no way she deserved any of what happened to her), so there was almost unanimous agreement to support the amendment going through once the required month was up.

* * *

As usual, the Daily Prophet did as the Ministry told them, so they covered up most of what happened, but the English language news media from overseas was getting around Magical Britain a lot more nowadays so the true story got out. This led to a lot of parents approaching Beauxbatons and Durmstrang about their children transferring there as of the next school year, because they couldn't get the chilling thought that that might have been their child out of their heads.

It ended up taking two months to get the amendment to the Rules of the Wizengamot to a vote, because Dumbledore and Fudge's and the other Traditional Pureblood factions tried to come up with ways to prevent it going through when they stopped to think about how it would interfere with their control of the Wizengamot. As it was, they only just got it through, because Dumbledore and the others had coerced or pressured everyone they could into changing their vote, but 77% of the votes _was_ enough to get it passed.

Dumbledore still thought he could outsmart them and tried to quietly alter the oath on the fly enough to give him some wriggle room, but he was almost blasted off his feet by the deafening '_**GONG**_' that the Magic of the Court came out with when he tried to give something other than the approved oath. He shot himself in the foot by categorically stating that he could not give the approved oath because it would interfere with his other official duties, believing that they'd give in and let him use his modified oath, but he only realised that he'd made a mistake when he saw Elphias Doge, who'd done whatever he told him to for the last century, shaking his head at him in disappointment. Elphias spent some time whispering with the other five who had already proven that they met the requirements and taken the oath required to sit as Chief Warlock or Chief Witch, Griselda Marchbanks, Hadrian Tofty, Tiberius Ogden, Augusta Longbottom and Bathilda Bagshot and when they'd reached an agreement turned back to Dumbledore.

"That is unfortunate Professor Dumbledore, because as you should know, the oath that must be taken for anyone to sit as a Chief Wizard or Chief Witch of the Wizengamot was written into the amendment that was being debated for the last two months. If there were any issues with the oath they should have been raised while it was under discussion, as it is too late to make any changes now that it has been accepted. My fellow accepted Chief Wizards and Chief Witches and I have agreed that we are confident that between us, we will be able to meet the need to provide someone to serve in this capacity for all Wizengamot sessions, so we thank you for your service to the Wizengamot and regretfully accept your resignation from the position of Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot."

Augusta couldn't resist adding a dig at that. "Yes, thank you Professor Dumbledore. This could be for the best actually, as without your ICW or Chief Warlock duties, you will now have more time to concentrate on your duties as the Headmaster of Hogwarts. You may have had less problems in recent years without the distractions of all those extra duties."

It was obvious that Dumbledore wanted to rant and rave at them, and probably curse them to boot, but he just nodded tersely and then turned and walked out (not _quite_ storming out). Elphias shook his head at his old friend in disappointment again as he left and after a bit more whispered discussion nodded, standing to address the Wizengamot. "As stated to Professor Dumbledore, my fellow accepted Chief Warlocks and Chief Witches and I are confident that between us, we will be able to meet the need to provide someone to serve in this capacity for all Wizengamot sessions. Therefore, unless any members of the Wizengamot wish to present a dissenting view or make a case to join us as a Chief Wizard or Chief Witch at this time, we propose that we six be accepted to serve as the Presiding Panel of Chief Wizards and Chief Witches of the Wizengamot of Magical Britain and close these proceedings. Does anyone wish to present a dissenting view or present themselves for consideration at this time?"

They waited for a while but shaking heads were the only answer. "Then I call for a vote to close this session of the Wizengamot." The vote was almost unanimous, so Elphias thanked them and announced the session closed.

* * *

The Traditional Purebloods soon found that they had been right to fear what would come from this change, because none of the six Chief Warlocks and Chief Witches the Wizengamot now had allowed them to slip in the type of beneficial changes that they had been in the habit of having Fudge agree with Dumbledore on a regular basis. Putting someone friendlier than Crouch in as the Head of International Magical Cooperation wasn't working to get cooperation from the new ICW Representatives either.

They were beginning to agree with Dumbledore, they needed a bogeyman to convince the Druids and Progressives to cooperate, but most of the bold Death Eaters were gone now and the others were afraid of ending up like Malfoy or Nott... and the evidence that Black presented had seemed to prove conclusively that their Dark Lord was gone for good so they couldn't hold him over everyone's heads like Dumbledore had.

Those posters were another thing they were unhappy about, because red crosses had now been placed over the depictions of Barty Crouch, Reginald Macmillan, Montgomery Smith, Lucius Malfoy, Thaddeus Nott, Julius Flint and the others who the Druid Alliance had taken down, so they were being used as a score card of who was winning this war, and that score card didn't show their side to be doing at all well. The fact that people were pointing to the damned posters and laughing, and even crossing out others with a question mark beside them, showed a total lack of respect for them and their position in Magical Britain and they didn't like that at all!

Dumbledore did have one proposal that may have merit though, that they push ahead with his plans to resurrect the Triwizard Tournament. He had done most of the groundwork for this when Potter was at Hogwarts, planning to get him killed off in the tournament so he could deal with Riddle's soul anchors and then kill Riddle so to regain his rightful place as the Magical world's saviour, but the ungrateful brat had ruined everything at the end of the year so he shelved the plans. The frameworks were still in place though so they could get it pushed through in a hurry and bring it back to Hogwarts on the Bicentennial of the last time it was staged. They could set it up so that either Longbottom or Bone's brat were the Beauxbatons champion, if not both, and Potter was _somehow_ made the Hogwarts champion, then have as many of them as possible killed off in the tournament. That would destabilise the Druid Alliance and hopefully allow them to reclaim control of Magical Britain.

They agreed to go with that, and also do something at the Quidditch World Cup final in England to throw them off balance so that they weren't expecting it when their names were selected to participate in the tournament. There was just one thing they'd forgotten though, Harry Potter wasn't in Britain, let alone Hogwarts, so how were they going to force him to participate in the tournament?


	11. Sports and Games

**This will be interesting, writing on a totally different version of Libreoffice on a different platform because I've cooked the second power supply in my main computer in under eighteen months (as I recall) and I don't have any more spare power supplies left so I'm on an old laptop now, summer in Oz isn't computer friendly unless you're using the aircon apparently.**

**NB: Fun factoid, UV stabilised perspex roofing panels still get brittle, it just takes a little longer in countries with strong sunlight, about fifteen years apparently. Found this out the hard way when a bad hail storm punched holes in every skylight panel in my roof so I've been up on the roof whenever it stopped raining long enough for the last week or so, _trying_ to stop the leaks. Also lost one of the lighting circuits in my house, so I'm hoping that that counts as three and the run of bad luck will stop.**

**After the last few weeks I canna be arsed spending another two or three hours doing the usual final tweaking on this, so it will probably be less polished than the other chapters, sorry.**

**There's been about a fifty percent increase in the total Wizengamot votes referred to in The Bitch is Back because in this world the fifty or so Wizengamot members generally referred to are only the Upper Wizengamot, there are almost twice that many in the Lower Wizengamot but they can't match the voting strength of the Upper Wizengamot.**

****What a surprise, I've got another Underbridge Clan member sniping from the shadows without actually reading what's written as they seem more interested in complaining about non-existent harems. Oh well, I guess if they get jollies out of being a bitch, I mean bitching, it's not a total loss. ;^)****

**Usual disclaimer, no rights to anything from JKR's stories.**

The Purebloods started to panic about a month after the Presiding Panel took over from Albus Dumbledore, because the Panel announced that they had begun a review the Wizengamot Law establishments and amendments in the past, looking at the last fifty years as the first cut, and had found that many of them had failed the Rules of the Wizengamot. While not as strict as the requirements to make amendments to the Rules of the Wizengamot themselves, there _were_ mandatory requirements that had to be met before Wizengamot Laws could be created, amended or repealed, the most relevant one being the fact that two thirds of the possible Wizengamot votes were required for the creation, amendment or repealing of any Wizengamot Laws. Needless to say, this requirement had not been met when many laws were created or amended in the last fifty years, especially in the last twenty years, and nor had the requirements for every Wizengamot member to get the supporting documentation and justification at least two weeks prior to the vote being held on the law, as well as any clarifications on that documentation.

The Wizards Council gave in to pressure from the Non-magical King of Britain (who was in turn giving in to the pressure his Non-Magical Nobles were applying in behalf of the new Magical Nobles they were related to) at the start of the Sixteenth Century to allow the Noble Magical Houses that had not originated as Druid Families to play a role in governing Magical Britain. To do this, the seven Druid Lords of the Wizards Council were expanded to form the fifty three member Upper Wizengamot and the other thirteen Druid Houses were expanded to become the hundred and one member Lower Wizengamot.

The Druids Laws which included the original laws of magic that governed Magical Britain were being codified from the beginning of the Eleventh Century when the thirteen member Druids Council was expanded into the two part Wizards Council, and they were finalised and definitions for the hierarchy of Magical Britain were added about a decade before the Norman Invasion. The families of Druids who had made a notable contribution to Magical Britain over its history were formally recognised as Druid Families, and from those Druid Families, Druids of great vision and wisdom were elected to sit on the Druids Council which had directed Magical Britain since the first Druids appeared in Britain. The families of those Druids were identified as the Guiding Families, and when the Druid Laws began being codified at the beginning of the Eleventh Century, they became the Druid Houses. The Druid Houses who's Heads had become ennobled, also known as the Druid Lords, then became the Noble Druid Houses….. The extant Druid Families, Druid Houses and Noble Druid Houses in Magical Britain as at the time the Druid Laws began being codified were all identified as _Most Ancient,_ to signify their role in guiding and advancing Magical Britain over its Fifteen Hundred year history.

The King of Britain hadn't appreciated being pressured by the Earls and Barons to change the traditional agreements that had been made with the Druids to keep the peace and assure their support, and he was suspicious that this was an attempt to usurp his sovereignty, so in the late Fourteen Hundreds the King secretly made the Wizards Council an offer to shore up their mutual support agreements which was accepted by the Council. The Druid Lords' titles were all elevated, the Heads of the Houses of Potter, Peverell and Black were elevated from Earls to Dukes and the thirteen Druid Barons who existed at that point were all elevated to Earls. The Heads of all forty seven extant Guiding Families were made Minor Barons and the Heads of the three hundred and seventeen extant Druid Families became Lairds….. in both instances this inferred the greater rights associated with the Scottish titles, but they were not limited to Scotland. What this meant was that while they were being forced to open the governing body of Magical Britain to the newer and more ambitious Noble Houses who were looking to use the supposedly superior number of shiny new Noble titles they had to rule Magical Britain purely for their own benefit, even with only three quarters of the Druid Houses and Families extant at that point, the King had granted the Druids three hundred and seventeen Lairds', forty seven Minor Barons', thirteen Earls' and three Dukes' titles to hold off the new Magical Nobles and retain control.

As part of creating the Wizengamot, the Wizards Council clarified the Most Ancient Houses and Families as those which were extant when the Wizards Council was created and added another definition of _Ancient_ Houses and Families for those that had been established during the period that the Wizards Council ruled Magical Britain, five hundred years between the beginnings of the Eleventh and Sixteenth Centuries (as well as adding the title of _Most Noble_ Druid Houses for the three Dukes' Houses, defining Earls' Houses as _Senior_ Noble Houses and Barons' as _Junior_ Noble Houses). At that point it had been nearly a hundred years since the last new Druid Houses or Families had been created, so at the insistence of the Noble Houses (who wanted to control more votes in the Wizengamot) they had added a new classification of _Minor_ Houses to allow wealthy common Magical families to join the Wizengamot as the Magical Gentry.

The process to do this was much the same as what was created to establish Noble Houses which hadn't originated as Druid Families. Formal proof that the family had been magical _and_ active in Magical Britain for at least a hundred years had to be extracted from the official records of Magical Britain to get the family recognised as a Magical Family (Without evidence that they had been actively contributing to Magical Britain, they needed to go back further than a century, _much_ further in some cases, because merely existing wasn't enough to be recognised as a Magical Family. The Nobles had argued about this requirement, but had to accept it when reminded that the criteria for being recognised as a Druid Family was to have made a _notable_ contribution to Magical Britain.), and then the legitimate acquisition of a Baronet title by the official Head of that Magical Family to establish it as a Minor House in Magical Britain.

If the Minor House was successfully created and they were recognised by the Wizengamot, under the voting hierarchy codified into the Wizengamot Rules the Baronet's title gave them a single vote, the same as the Head of a Druid Family's Laird's title did. Any Baron or Viscount's title gave two votes, an Earl or Marquess four votes, and a Duke six votes. In addition to this, Ancient Houses and Families had their votes multiplied by a factor of two and Most Ancient Houses and Families by three, so the Heads of Ancient Druid Families and Junior Noble Houses both had two votes. A superior house held the right to vote on behalf of any sworn vassal houses or families in the Wizengamot, whether or not they held a Wizengamot seat, but proxy votes could only be voted for a current Wizengamot Member's House or Family.

* * *

Now that most of the proxies that Dumbledore had illegally claimed and the titles that the Death Eaters and other 'Traditional' Purebloods had stolen from destroyed families over the last twenty odd years had been returned and most of the extant Druid Houses and Families were sworn vassals of Harry, Sirius and the other early Druid Lords, the Druid Alliance was a force to be reckoned with in the Wizengamot. This ensured that the Wizengamot Laws that they found abhorrent _didn't_ get ratified when they came up for a proper vote.

The Purebloods were gnashing their teeth when the Presiding Panel announced that twenty to fifty of those illicit 'Law' creations and amendments would be put to the vote in each Wizengamot session until the shortcomings of all the original votes had been corrected, and it was the responsibility of whoever had been behind the original introduction of the law or amendment to ensure that the entire Wizengamot received all the relevant documentation for the law or amendment at least two weeks prior to it being voted on, otherwise it would be voted out. It was _also_ announced that the majority of the Upper Wizengamot and senior members of the Lower Wizengamot would be required to be in attendance for all of these sessions, because the Wizengamot Rules would have required nine hundred votes for any of these 'Law' creations and amendments to be passed. Many of the _Lords_ of the Wizengamot were ropeable when they were advised that as this was going to be an inconvenience to all Wizengamot members, anyone controlling a significant voting block in the Wizengamot who held up this process by failing to attend or make formal arrangements to authorise others to vote on their behalf would be penalised, and these penalties would increase significantly with each successive failure to vote or authorise proxies.

The Pureblood _Lords_ were even angrier when they realised that they'd need to buy far more votes to try and get the new or amended laws through now than they had when they originally got them passed, so they quickly started trying to weigh up which ones were worth spending the gold to try and keep. Of course, Harry and the others weren't going to let them get away with that without a fight, so they argued most of the Laws the Purebloods obviously wanted to standstill.

In the short term, their being careful about which laws they put their gold behind meant that many of the bigoted laws and amendments were scrapped without a fight when they were put up to be voted on. By the time the Quidditch World Cup Final came around at the beginning of August, most of Dumbledore's changes to the Laws of Magical Britain had been reversed or revoked. There were of course other changes lost that they would rather have kept, but they were operating on the premise that they could fight to get them reintroduced once the rest of the crap had been cleaned out.

* * *

Many of the Traditional Purebloods weren't cunning enough to hide their gloating expressions as they got closer to the Quidditch World Cup Final, so Amelia made arrangements to have Aurors and other witches and wizards ready to move in quickly if there was any trouble. They had tents scattered throughout the various camping areas with Goblin floos hidden inside, so they could send people in to deal with whatever happened.

Sirius was still a man child at heart, he was working to become what he needed to be as the Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient Druid House of Black and a proper Godfather to James and Lily's son, but he had still been quite immature when he was thrown into Azkaban without a trial at the age of twenty two, and a decade in Azkaban had scarred him more than helped him mature. As a result, his first impulse when the date and location of the Quidditch World Cup Final was announced was to book several boxes on the top tier of the stands, and to be fair no-one complained because many people in their extended family were Quidditch mad.

Even Harry and the girls enjoyed watching Quidditch played at that level so they were attending with the rest of the family, though of course Harry was using his metamorph talent to change his appearance and the girls were using Goblin glamours to hide their identities. That basically worked up until Louis Delacour, the Head of French equivalent of the Department of International Magical Cooperation arrived in the Ministry box with his wife Apolline, who was a Veela.

Apolline Delacour was swearing under her breath about the need to accompany Louis to these types of events to keep up appearances and trying to ignore these pigs in the Ministry box that his position meant that he had to be polite to, so she was pretending to watch the crowd filling the stands with interest, but something caught her eye in another box on the top tier….. A young Veela in her late teens or early twenties under what appeared to be a Goblin glamour. That wasn't the half of it though, her senses were singing at the power leaking from the young wizard the Veela was with…. Mon Dieu! He obviously hadn't fully come into his power yet but he made Louis in his prime look rather mediocre! For that matter the Veela and the other young witch with them were showing a lot of power as well, not to mention the fact that they were all bonded to each other…. And there was also the fact that the young Veela was from no line that she recognised, and she'd thought that she knew all of the European Veela lines at least.

She signalled Louis and indicating the young Veela, told him that she needed him to find a way for her to get an introduction to that Veela who was hiding under a glamour and her companions. When Louis looked at the one she was indicating, he laughed and muttered in French. "_I do not think that you are the only one who wants an introduction Cherie, that witch who's heading our way now is Britain's Head of Magical Law Enforcement, Madame Bones, I was introduced to her last year __in Paris __at__ the International meeting for Magical Law Enforcement._"

Sure enough, as soon as Amelia greeted Louis and was introduced to Apolline, she said that her niece and Lord Longbottom's Heir would like to thank Louis for his assistance in setting up their protection at Beauxbatons, but their family was not exactly comfortable around many from the British Ministry. The Delacours jumped at the chance to get away from the Ministry pigs and were soon being introduced to the young Countess Bones and Baron Longbottom, Heir to the Senior Noble and Most Ancient Druid House of Longbottom, and then to most of the other people in the boxes, Duke Black was an interesting character, as was Baron Lovegood, but Apolline had to bite her tongue as they were three quarters of the way through the group before they were finally introduced to the young Veela and her two bond mates.

Apolline caught Louis' frown when the young wizard was introduced as Comte Henri Corbeau of Magical France, which told her that something didn't fit, even though she didn't see this charming and confident young Comte being silly enough to claim a title that wasn't rightfully his when he was being introduced to a distinguished French Comte and notable member of the French Ministry. The two girls were also introduced as French witches, and the young Comte's betrothed, so she had to stop a frown of her own, as she knew damned well that this girl was of no French Veela line!

A while after they sat down to chat in fluent French, the young Comte laughed softly and suddenly changed the subject. "_They've finally stopped staring at us! I must apologise for the __subterfuge__ Comte Delacour, Comtesse Delacour, but we are not officially in Britain and do not wish the British Ministry or anyone else outside of our family know that we are here. I do in fact legitimately hold the title of Comte Corbeau in Magical France __and __as you know __Chateau __Corbeau__ is not too far from Chateau Delacour__, but I am better known as Duke Henry James Potter Peverell, or Harry Potter in Magical Britain. My betrothed are Lady Hermione Jean Dagworth-Granger and Lady Luna Pandora Lovegood-Cathbad, __and yes, Comtesse Delacour, Luna is of one of the last British Veela lines, through her mother, Lady Pandora Lovegood-Cathbad. The Veela lines who remained in Britain have for the last couple of centuries bound their daughters' Veela abilities until after they have finished at Hogwarts so that they will be able to keep ordinary witches and wizards from discovering that they are Veela. This is because British witches and wizards tend to attack any__thing__ they do not understand, rather than make any attempt to __learn__, and killing all those wizards for making inappropriate overtures to young Veela would make entirely too much of a mess to clean up._"

Louis and Apolline burst out laughing at that, because as the husband and father of Veela, Louis had been hard pressed to stop himself from making such a mess on far too many occasions, as had Apolline when supposedly adult wizards had made their intentions towards their eldest daughter disgustingly clear over the last four or five years. She had discovered that the pigs paying that sort of attention to her daughter actually enraged her far more than it had when she had had to put up with it herself at Fleur's age. She was also eager to learn more about this binding to mask the Veela abilities, because providing there were no significant side effects, she was hopeful that it may help save Gabrielle from similar attentions and therefore give her a more pleasant experience at through her teenage years.

Apolline was enjoying chatting with Luna about her experiences as a hidden British Veela when the Bulgarian national team's Veela 'Mascots' came out to perform. Most of the wizards and more than a few witches in the audience went wild when they turned up their allure, which the young Duc Potter-Peverell appeared to find as distasteful as she did, but she was shocked by the language this charming young Duc came out with when he suddenly started swearing in _High_ Goblin?

Those on the Veela Councils had always believed that they were the only ones outside of the Goblin Nations who spoke High Goblin, but the young Duc remained in that language as he turned to bark orders to the Goblin in charge of what she suddenly registered was a squad of a High Clan Chieftain's elite House Guard, which was actually led by a High Goblin! A Clan Chieftain's House Guard and a High Goblin being out in the wizarding world was unheard of, and their taking orders from a human even more so, so Apolline almost missed the fact that the young Duc's ears had been shifted into some form of cat's ears, which had presumably allowed him to hear about this thing that was to happen after the final match was over, that they'd obviously been expecting. The young Duc went on to issue more orders to Madame Bones, which Apolline didn't hear as they were using some form of privacy charm, then turned to her and addressed her in High Goblin.

He shrugged at the questioning look she sent him about the language he was speaking. "_Once we were introduced I recognised __your name from the __Veela Councils' member lists and I know that the Councils speak High Goblin when officially dealing with the people. It is a dialect that none of those pigs over there can speak, so we cannot be understood if we speak it…._" She kept up the questioning look and he shook his head and continued tersely. "_I have neither the time nor the inclination to play games with you __here __Comtesse Delacour, I speak High Goblin because the __Goblin people recognise __the __Head of the Most Noble and Most Ancient Druid House of Potter as the Patron of the Goblin Nations. Do you personally know any of those Bulgarian Veela?_"

Apolline grimaced as she glanced down at the stadium floor where the Veela had been performing and answered him in the same language. "_Yes! Two of them are __daughters of __my second and third cousins._"

"_That is disappointing, but __may be __to our advantage. __I will leave it to t__he Councils to __address the fact that __for some reason __they have gone against the Councils' mandates that Veela __are__ not __to __prostitute themselves, but there is a more immediate problem, as they have just been sold to the ones who will be __staging a disturbance here after the match. They will be supposedly be abducted from their tent in the disturbance, but as I said they were just sold by a representative of the Bulgarian Ministry… for a shamefully low price at that so Bulgaria obviously doesn't place much value on Veela. If it were any of my business_ _Comtesse Delacour, I __would recommend that the Councils __order__ all Veela __to leave __Bulgaria __immediately __if this is a measure if the respect Veela are held in there, __b__ut that is the Veela Councils' decision to make. I presume that you, as a member __of the Veela Councils__, __will do what you can to prevent__ Veela to be sold off to pigs to be used and cast aside when they are done with them?" _Apolline nodded grimly, affronted by the question but understanding that he was just stating the obvious.

"_Very Well, if you visit the convenience back there, __my__ Guard commander Ulfr__ will pop you down to the Veelas' tent __so you can inform them what is going on and tell them what to do, then they can be removed __to a safe location __by Goblin Floo, once they __are __safe__l__y __away __we will __organise__ a welcoming party there for the ones who come to take them…. __I understand that you must be upset and furious at the moment Comtesse Delacour but I implore you to take care not to insult Ulfr in any way, he is the nephew and heir of Over Chieftain Gringott the Seventh, __the current __Leader of the Goblin Nations, __so you would be insulting the Goblin Nations if you did so__.__"_

Apolline was shocked by that last admonishment, but she quickly embraced him and kissed his cheeks, then quickly and quietly explained what was happening to Louis before going to visit the convenience. On one hand, the business was handled with the speed and efficiency she'd expected of the Goblins, but even knowing about his connections it was hard to believe that the young Duc could have organised this on the fly so quickly as the Bulgarian 'mascots' were safe inside a Veela Enclave in France and she was back with the others not much more than fifteen minutes after she left. The Bulgarian team would notice of course when they weren't there to celebrate or commiserate with after the match, but the tent had been made to look like they'd left in a hurry so they were banking on the Bulgarians thinking that the Veela had just run off while everyone's attention was on the match. Harry was also banking on the fact that the Bulgarian official who'd sold the Veela would mess up the tent a little more to cover up their disappearance so he could hang onto the gold he took for them while claiming that someone else must have grabbed them when the disturbance started.

Their enjoyment of the match was rather curtailed by their aggravation about what the Ministry officials were planning, but they had a good idea of exactly when and where the so-called Death Eaters would be turning up now, so they'd have their teams ready and waiting in tents close by and at the first sign of trouble they'd run out, engage them and take them down hard. The only funny side of this was thinking about the Ministry and Purebloods' confusion about where Amelia had gotten so many Aurors and MLE Patrol Officers from, because most of the witches and wizards coming out of the tents would be wearing DMLE robes. The team who would be waiting in the Veelas' tent would be just about the only ones other than the family not putting on an act, as their job was simple, drag all of the ones who arrived to grab the Veela inside and slaughter them quickly, then burn the tent and everything in it to destroy the evidence. The family attracted a lot of attention by taking the fight to the so-called Death Eaters when everyone else was screaming and hiding. Luckily, having the Delacours there meant that 'Henri', 'Jeanne' and 'Eloise' were just accepted as part of the French contingent made up of the Delacours, Louis' assistants and their guards.

The 'Death Eater attack' was over almost as soon as it started, their people boiled out of the tents, took them down fast and hard and portkeyed them off to the DMLE's holding cells….. well most of them went to the DMLE's medical facilities first because very few of them got through the altercation intact. Nearly all of them were missing their wand arms, and most of them their other arms and legs as well. While they were in shock from the trauma of losing limbs, Amelia had them questioned under Veritaserum, but while they picked up many other small players, someone had been clever enough to ensure that they took oaths to prevent any information about the ones behind this getting out.

Of course, Fudge and the Purebloods ranted and raved and tried to claim that it was just youthful exuberance and harmless fun, even though half of them had actual Dark Marks to go with the Death Eater robes and masks, most were in their late thirties or forties…. and their wands showed dark curses being cast. Between the testimonies under Veritaserum and the wand evidence, there wasn't really any way of letting them off, and as no-one seemed to know who the Aurors and DMLE Patrol Officers were and the Wizengamot wouldn't let them go after nobles like the Dukes, Earls, Countesses, Comtes and Comtesses that made up the 'family' party coming out of Sirius' tent for their 'vicious attacks' on common Death Eaters, they were soon left with nothing but ineffectual complaints.

* * *

They had to concede that the Ministry and the Purebloods had played one aspect of this well though, because they were so tied up trying to make sure they didn't let any of the ones who attacked the World Cup off that they didn't catch Dumbledore's game at Hogwarts until the last minute. Of course the fact that he only told Minerva about the Triwizard Tournament ten minutes before the Welcoming Feast began was a big part of that. Luckily that was enough time for the family members who held nine of the thirteen Hogwarts Board seats to assemble outside the doors of the Great Hall, so when Dumbledore drew himself up to announce. "The Quidditch Cup is cancelled this school year, because Magical Britain has managed to do what no one else has in two hundred years, we have managed to bring back the legendary Triwizard Tournament… Right here at Hogwarts!..."

The doors crashed open and they strode in, with Sirius shouting. "That in the Seven Hells do you think you're doing Dumbledore? Are you so feeble minded that you've forgotten that _**nothing**_ can be hosted at Hogwarts without the approval of the Hogwarts Board?"

Once again, the old fool thought he could outmanoeuvre them. "I do not know what you are talking about Black. I can assure you that our actions were authorised by the Hogwarts Board, which you no longer have any reason to be involved with since Potter left!"

Sirius sneered an "Oh?" at him and asked the other eight Board Members in the Great Hall whether any of them had authorised this. One he had received emphatic negatives from all of them he turned back to Dumbledore. "I will be demanding either an honour duel or compensation of my choice for the disrespect you have shown to me, Duke Sirius Orion Black and my Godson, Duke Henry James Potter-Peverell Dumbledore, but we will address that later….. Given the fact that you misappropriated the Potter seat when my Godson was illegally banished into an abusive Muggle environment for ten years at your instigation, you are well aware of the fact that the heads of the senior families or their representatives_ always_ have the right to claim their seats on the Hogwarts Board in order to direct the education of the future of Magical Britain so that they can properly prepare them for what they will face when they grow up, you're obviously trying to mislead the people here in the Great Hall yet again with that shite."

"There's also the fact that you are _knowingly_ lying about having the Approval of the Hogwarts Board, because you know full well that getting agreement from any of those four idiots we didn't bother removing from the Board yet because they only represent about ten percent of the votes on the Board means nothing! No, I must correct myself, it means that they _do_ need to be removed as a matter of priority because they have yet again placed supporting you and your games above the safety of the children at Hogwarts, who are Magical Britain's future…. You seem to forget old man that the fact that you confounded the Hogwarts Board fifty years ago to get that rider placed on your contract saying that it requires a unanimous vote of the Hogwarts Board to dismiss you does _not_ mean that we do not have other ways to get rid of you. That act you had passed giving yourself and Minister Bagnold immunity from prosecution so long as you remain in your positions as Chief Warlock and Minister for Magic has been repealed, and you are no longer Chief Warlock anyway, so there's nothing stopping us having you tried for your many crimes and thrown in Azkaban or through the Veil of Death. If you were as smart as you keep telling everyone you are Dumbledore, you wouldn't keep reminding us that we really need to get rid of you, for _The Greater Good_."

As Sirius had planned, Dumbledore started sweating at that, and after he'd given him a couple of minutes to stew he went on. "This Triwizard Tournament will _not_ be hosted at Hogwarts, and the Hogwarts Board will not allow Hogwarts to be a part of it unless we see proof that it has been changed from a senseless deathtrap of the past to an actual test of skill and magical ability, as it was meant to be….." Amelia caught his eye and signalled to the students, so he nodded, turning to face them.

"I doubt that your _esteemed_" The sarcasm was dripping from that word. "Headmaster planned to tell you this, but the reason this Triwizard Tournament was banned two hundred years ago was that they _finally_ accepted that it was stupid to keep allowing the best and brightest of Magical Europe to be slaughtered in a meaningless competition. Over the five centuries it was run every five years or so, with Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang alternating as the school hosting it, more and more of the competitors were killed in the Tournament, not to mention judges and spectators. The last time it was run, here at Hogwarts in Seventeen Ninety Two, all three of the competitors were killed so there was no winner. That _finally_ made the people supporting this thing step back and admit that it was nothing but a deathtrap where the supposed _winner_ was usually the one who had been lucky enough to survive. That is why the Triwizard Tournament was cancelled two hundred years ago, and the Hogwarts Board..." He indicated those with him. "Has no intention of allowing Hogwarts to be involved with anything like that again."

Dumbledore still thought that he could win with this. "You can't pull Hogwarts out of the Triwizard Tournament! The governments of Magical Britain, Magical France and the Nordic Magical Confederation have all signed unbreakable magical contracts for it to be held again!"

Sirius and Amelia looked at each other and swore to themselves as they realised that this must have been why Louis Delacour had been in Britain for the Quidditch World Cup Final, he must have been here for the final contract signings, but Sirius wasn't going to let it go at that.

"That is unfortunate for whatever fool it was who signed to commit Hogwarts to participating in the tournament without getting the Hogwarts Board's proper authorisation, but our responsibility is to safety and advancement of the students of Hogwarts, not some Ministry flunky who didn't give a thought to the safety of the ones who would be made to risk life and limb for some senseless spectacle!"

"It is not just the Director of the Department of International Magical Cooperation who is at risk here, it is Magical Britain itself! The penalty if we were to try and pull out of the contract would be that we would cease to be a separate country and Magical France and the Nordic Magical Confederation would split us up between them!"

They weren't swearing under their breaths this time, they were calling the old fool every name in the book. "This level of stupidity has you written all over it old man! You are so determined to force us to go along with your stupid plan that you are willing to destroy our country to do it, and you obviously used the old Dumbledore Mind Magics to compel Fudge and those other idiots to go along with it!" He turned to Griselda, Bathilda, Augusta and Tiberius. "My Lady Chief Witches, My Lord Chief Warlock, we need to schedule an immediate emergency Wizengamot session to determine how to address this threat to Magical Britain and prevent our destruction!" The three Chief Witches and Chief Wizard nodded and ran out of the Great Hall as Sirius turned back to Dumbledore.

"Tell us who else is involved with the Triwizard Tournament right now, because we'll be getting you, Fudge and the rest of those idiots into the Wizengamot Chamber with those signed contracts and every other agreement and piece of documentation, _now_!"

"You cannot order me or the Minister for Magic about like this….."

"What part of _now_ don't you understand you fucking old fool? You may well have destroyed Magical Britain with your hubris and pride, so we need to do what we can to try and protect the future of Magical Britain and the children of the Magical World from what you've done immediately! What are you waiting for? Give me the names of everyone involved in this and don't leave anyone out! We're getting you, Fudge and the rest of the jackals into the Wizengamot Chamber for an immediate Wizengamot session!"

Most of the students were just staring at Sirius in shock, but some were already running out of the Great Hall because they understood the importance of what had been said, so they were running to send word to their parents that Dumbledore, Fudge and their associates had quite possibly doomed their country.

As the sensible cousin, Andi stepped aside and called Louis Delacour on the communications mirror they'd given him at the Quidditch World Cup Final. It was no great surprise to hear that he hadn't been given any real opportunity to review the Triwizard Tournament contracts he'd signed on behalf of Magical France, so he knew nothing about the incredible penalty clauses that had been written into them. He agreed to make himself ready to attend the Wizengamot session and come through the Goblin Floo when they required his presence.

* * *

Fudge and the others from the British Ministry of Magic tried to bluster when they were dragged in front of the Emergency Wizengamot Session (literally in some cases, as Amelia had to send DMLE Patrol Officers to their homes to collect them when they didn't appear), but they soon shut up when they saw well over three quarters of the Wizengamot were present on an hour's notice, and most of them looked as though they'd quite happily have anyone involved in this mess kissed by the Dementors.

Amelia and Louis contacted Amelia's equivalent in Magical France and arranged for any French representatives on the Triwizard Committee to be quietly rounded up and delivered to the Wizengamot session, and they did something similar with the Nordic Magical Confederation, as well as bringing in a senior panel of the International Confederation of Wizards' judiciary to render judgement on those elements that Magical Britain's Wizengamot could not rule on. Those who had the sense to see what had been accomplished were astounded that an international court of this magnitude could have been convened in the space of an hour, but very few of those who were facing judgement were that bright, so they were still sure that they would get out of this.

Full copies of the Triwizard Tournament Contracts and all attachments were supplied to every Wizengamot member and the ICW judges and other parties brought in to deal with this, and wards soon had to be thrown up around the ones there to answer to the charges as they found more and more hidden penalties buried in the fine print and attachments, like the ruling that any eligible schoolchildren of senior government officials of the participating countries _must_ be entered into the Tournament or their houses would have everything stripped from them and their children put under the control of the respective Ministry, it was not missed that Comte Delacour was the only senior government official that this seemed to apply to.

What it came down to was that the Triwizard Tournament Contracts and the incredible penalties they included _were_ magically binding, and Dumbledore had covered his arse by having it written into the contracts that Magical Britain _had_ to participate, with Hogwarts as the hosting school and him as its Headmaster. While they had to go along with that though, they weren't going to allow those bastards to do what they wanted, so they forced changes to the Triwizard Tournament Committee. Louis replaced the French Ministry representative he killed in an honour duel for setting his family up like that, and he added Madame Maxime (as she was the only school head not on the committee) and other trusted associates too, replacing the existing French Ministry representatives where possible to reduce their power in the committee. They did similar things with the Nordic Magical Confederation to try and nobble the ones who were part of this nefarious scheme, but in Magical Britain the ones behind the scheme had locked themselves in, so the only way they could offset that was to add the thirteen Governors on the Hogwarts Board to the Triwizard Committee, and give them overriding authority on everything that happened at Hogwarts, which meant that they had the final say on what happened in the tasks (by the time the inquest was finished the last four 'traditional' pureblood members had been replaced with other Senior Noble and Ancient House representatives who could be trusted to place the students' safety and interests first).

Dumbledore's cronies, who thought that they had this locked in, tried to argue that the Triwizard Committee couldn't be changed once the contracts were signed but the ICW judges laughed at them, saying that the only ones who couldn't be changed were the ones who were explicitly named or identified in the contracts, so the rest of them could be tried, dealt with and replaced. Fudge and his French equivalent lost their positions and most of what they owned, as did many of their key people. Unfortunately most of the ones who were bright enough to be dangerous had had themselves written into the contracts so they were protected. The President of the Nordic Magical Confederation hadn't been involved at all, the NMC representation in this turned out to be mainly Grindelwald supporters who were still hoping to make his dream come about, but they only managed to clean out about half of them, as the others were identified in the Triwizard contracts.

Dumbledore was ropeable when he was informed that he was now Headmaster of Hogwarts in name only, because Minerva McGonagall was taking over all his official duties as Acting Headmistress, and Pomona Sprout would be the Acting Deputy Headmistress until the end of the school year, when their positions would be made formal. Dumbledore was made to swap offices with Minerva and his duties had become teaching the first four years of Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts classes. Rolanda Hooch became the Gryffindor House Mistress and taught the first four years of Charms, while they and they hired Gethsemane Prickle away from the Ministry to take over as the Hufflepuff House Mistress and teach the first four years of Herbology. The point of this was to prevent the Headmistress, Deputy Headmistress, House Mistresses and House Master from being overloaded, so that they could give proper attention to both their teaching and administrative duties. It also took control of Hogwarts' wards away from Dumbledore and prevented him having any access to Hogwarts funds. Strangely enough, without Dumbledore being able to skim from the Hogwarts vaults and accounts any more, there was plenty of gold to cover the pay adjustments and extra teacher's salary. This meant that he had had been demoted to a junior teacher of two subjects (with a suitable pay reduction) who had no longer had any authority to do anything untoward. They also got rid of Argus Filch, as he was incapable of doing the tasks associated with the caretaker's role. The Hogwarts elves did most of the cleaning and repair functions associated with the role and Minerva and Pomona divvied up the other tasks between them.

* * *

Dumbledore and the Ministry hacks who were locked into the Triwizard Committee tried to insist that the Hogwarts student body all stand out in the sleet and snow waiting for when the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang contingents arrived the day before Halloween, and they were very pissed off when the response they got from most of the students and staff was basically. 'Shove off you old wanker!'

They were even more pissed off when the majority of the students and staff came out of the castle just before Beauxbatons' cottage sized flying coach came into sight. It kept getting worse for them, because the first one to alight from the coach was a very dapper looking Rubeus Hagrid. Hagrid handed Madame Maxime out of the coach, leaving the male students to do the honours for the young ladies of the Beauxbatons delegation, then they moved gracefully as a group to where Minerva and Pomona was waiting, all except for the French Ministry flunky walking straight past Dumbledore and the Ministry flunky as if they didn't exist. Once greetings had been exchanged, Minerva led everyone but Dumbledore, the Ministry flunkies and the sons and daughters of the Traditional Purebloods back inside out of the cold and sleet. The wards alerted Minerva that the Durmstrang ship had arrived in Black Lake, but after a brief discussion with Pomona and Filius, she decided to let Dumbledore greet the ex-Death Eater and whatever he decided to bring with him. The contracts for this damned tournament had forced them to keep the old bastard here with the nominal title of Headmaster, so he could deal with the vermin that it brought to Hogwarts.

The arrogant old fool actually had the gall to try to remonstrate her for failing to officially welcome the Durmstrang delegation to Hogwarts, but she'd had enough of pandering to him. "Shut up ye daft old git! Everyone here, even that Death Eater coward that you've sullied our school with, knows the truth. The _**ONLY**_ reason ye get to call yeself headmaster is the fact that ye wrote it into the contracts for this deathtrap and made sure that we couldna cancel it without destroying Magical Britain. We should make _you_ compete in this damned thing ye've brought down on us, but of course being a coward like the Death Eater you have made sure that we canna. In case ye've forgotten, ye have no say in what Hogwarts' staff or students do any more Dumbledore, ye are nothing but a junior teacher teaching classes to the younger students because we dinna trust ye to teach the older students, remember ye place old man. The _only_ thing ye are here for is this damned tournament and if ye try to interfere with anything else I will step on you…. Or I'll ask Madame Maxime's permission to get Professor Hagrid to do it for me."

Karkaroff drew himself up to rant at her about how she was referring to him but she cut him off. "Shut up Karkaroff! This abomination of a tournament and the fact that you've been written into the contracts as well are the only reason something like you would _ever_ be allowed to set foot in Hogwarts! I was hoping that the wards might have still rejected you because of the Dark Mark your master branded you with, but there hasn't been any magic in it since he was killed, so the wards created to destroy any dark objects that cross them didn't have anything to work with…."

Minerva suddenly cocked her head to one side and gave an evil laugh. "It appears that you had some rather nasty dark objects on your ship though Death Eater, because the wards have just notified me that they managed to set off the ship's power stones when they were destroyed. That breached the ship's hull and it's sinking! Fool! Did you think that we wouldna stop you bringing dark objects into Hogwarts?"

That caused a mass exodus out of the doors, and sure enough, the Durmstrang ship was rolling away from the shore as it settled onto the bottom which sharply fell away to deep waters in that part of the lake. Dumbledore, Karkaroff, the Ministry representatives forced on them and the Durmstrang contingent were screaming in frustration as they ran towards the ship, madly casting spells to try to stop it turning turtle and disappearing under the waters of Black lake. Just about everyone else was laughing their heads off as they watched the show, but when Dumbledore and the others were standing on the shore, morosely looking at where the ship had disappeared under the water, Minerva called a horn to her and offered it to Hagrid.

Hagrid took the horn with a nod and Minerva and the others followed him down to the shore. He used the horn to call the giant squid and after a chat that no-one else could really understand the Squid disappeared. A few minutes later, something appeared in the depths of the lake, growing larger until the hull of the Durmstrang ship broke the surface and it was pushed half up on the shore. Hagrid called out something to the squid and then he, Olympe, Minerva and the other Hogwarts professors quickly patched up the holes in the ship's bottom while the squid held it there. When they were satisfied that they had all the holes they could see closed up, Hagrid called to the squid again and it pulled the ship back into the water. Minerva and the others conjured ropes to secure it to the shore and levitated the gangway back onto the ship while Hagrid thanked the squid for its help.

While some of the Durmstrang students called out their thanks as the Hogwarts and Beauxbatons staff and students turned to walk away, none missed the fact that neither Dumbledore nor Karkaroff made any effort to do so.

* * *

Dumbledore and the Durmstrang delegation boarded the now non-magical ship and tried to dry out and repair what they could in the cabins, before they got cleaned up themselves and trudged back up to the castle for the feast. Dumbledore, Karkaroff and the Ministry flunky were less than impressed to find that a separate table had been set up off to the side of the High Table dais for the everyone who was there for the Triwizard Tournament because they'd been locked in by the contracts they wrote. The only ones who were there for the Tournament who were sitting at the High Table were Madame Maxime and Hagrid.

Karkaroff stomped up to the High Table and made sure that everyone heard as he told Minerva that Hogwarts would be paying to get the damage its malicious wards did to Durmstrang's ship repaired, but a subtle sonorous charm ensured that everyone heard Minerva's laughter and response.

"Are you mad Karkaroff? You try to bring in dark objects that were powerful enough to set off your ship's power stones when the wards created to protect the children at Hogwarts destroyed them, and you think that _we_ will accept responsibility for the damage _your_ actions caused? Get out of my sight you idiot! I had been inclined to let the matter of you bringing that class of Dark Objects into Magical Britain go, but for you to have the gall to try and demand that we pay for you actions, no!…. Professor Sprout, could you contact the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, the Department of Mysteries and the Goblin Nation please, we need to get their experts to identify what level of Dark Objects would have been required to set off the power stones in Durmstrang's ship like that, so that they can determine what fines must be applied to Durmstrang, or Karkaroff himself if the school tries to separate themselves from any responsibility for illegally bringing dangerous Dark Objects into Magical Britain."

Pomona's eyes were dancing with mirth as she pointed out that they actually had the heads of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and Department of Mysteries here, as the Hogwarts Board members were present to try and ensure that nothing else untoward happened in regards to this Tournament. Minerva smiled. "Oh yes. Silly me. Madam Bones, Lord Croaker, would you agree that we have a case to fine Durmstrang for bringing powerful Dark Objects into Magical Britain?"

Amelia was trying to keep a straight face as she responded. "I do indeed Professor McGonagall, as you said, they would have had to be powerful Dark Objects to set off the power stones when they were destroyed, so in my mind there is no question that it's a chargeable offence, Lord Croaker, can you organise your Unspeakables to come in and do the testing on the residue of the Dark Objects?"

"Of course Madam Bones, I will have my Unspeakables bring the relevant people from the Goblin Nation with them, as they often work together on these matters, they should be able to get some ICW observers to come with them as well."

Karkaroff, Dumbledore and the Ministry flunkies were trying to argue that they couldn't do that as the Durmstrang ship was classified as sovereign soil of the NMC but Amelia just dismissed their arguments, telling them that due to the excessive involvement of criminal elements in the planning for the tournament, the DMLE had authorisation from all the current heads of state and the Hogwarts Board to access whatever they deemed necessary to protect the students at Hogwarts for the tournament.

What Dumbledore and the others didn't realise was that the Directors of the DMLE and Department of Mysteries didn't need to leave the High Table to call in the Aurors, Unspeakables, Goblins and ICW observers to investigate the Dark Objects that had been responsible for the Durmstrang ship sinking. In fact the experts were crawling all over the ship and collecting any remnants that had been thrown out when the exploding power stones blew holes in the bottom of the ship while they were at the welcoming feast, telling themselves that they'd be able to get orders to stop any inspections before the British authorities managed to get anything organised.

The fact that nothing could detract from Dumbledore's need to grandstand helped them because everyone had to listen to him rabbiting on about the 'eternal glory' that supposedly came with with winning this thing for well over half an hour, though the Hogwarts Board forced him to tell everyone the news that it was restricted to students who had already reached their majority. They also forced him to make it clear to the students that once their entries were accepted by the Goblet of Fire, they _must_ compete if their names came out of the Goblet, so they needed to be absolutely certain that they wanted to compete in this thing before they put their names in.

Luckily for them, while clever and having complete access to the disturbingly effective Dumbledore Mind Magics, Dumbledore no longer had the Elder Wand to amplify his abilities and he was by no means the Machiavellian genius he thought himself to be. He had the intelligence and ability to be dangerous, but not the unstoppable force he told himself he was. Even better, his ego was inflated enough to stop him seeing that fact, which made him much easier to deal with.


	12. Triwizard Tournament

**OK, I'm rescinding my recent stance on anonymous cowards and going back to deleting whatever the trolls post. I _REALLY_ wish the site admins would give writers back the right to refuse to allow 'anonymous guest reviews' to be posted on their stories so we don't have to look at the pathetic shite they post though.**

**Usual disclaimer, no rights to anything from JKR's HP world.**

The next night was the Halloween feast, which would be followed by the selection of the Triwizard champions. The Druids could tell that Dumbledore and the others from the original Triwizard Committee were up to something, because they were too smug by half. They weren't even showing any anger about being pushed off the High Table by Olympe Maxime, Hagrid, Louis Delacour and the entire Hogwarts Board, which they'd never let go of without a reason.

The Druids had been watching the Goblet of Fire ever since it was lit, because they knew that there was no chance that the Purebloods who organised this wouldn't be trying something, but they'd played their game well because none of the watchers had seen any untoward acts of sabotage by the end of the Halloween Feast.

There was no surprise when first name that came out was Fleur Delacour as the Champion for Beauxbatons, as Fleur was the prime reason to write the clause about government officials' children into the contract. Nor was it a surprise when the second name was Viktor Krum as Durmstrang's champion. It _was_ a bit of a surprise when Marcus Flint was selected for Hogwarts' champion, but not that much, considering how slim the prospects at Hogwarts were now. No, the real surprise came when they realised that the flames in the Goblet hadn't died down and the way Dumbledore was standing there with a smug expectant look on his face made it obvious that he was waiting for something.

Dumbledore quickly stepped forward to catch the next slip of parchment that was cast out of the goblet when the fames flared up again and smugly called out without any indication that this was unexpected…. "The Second Champion for Beauxbatons is Susan Bones!" Susan wasn't there of course, because she'd never be stupid enough to enter herself into something like that, but Amelia didn't have time to leap over the High Table and choke the life out of the old bastard before the flames flared up again… "The Second Champion for Durmstrang is Rolf Scamander!"

Rolf was Newt Scamander's grandson, and Heir to the Druid Family of Scamander because his father had been killed in the Blood Wars. His mother and grandparents had sent him to Durmstrang to keep him away from Albus Bloody Dumbledore, who had just shrugged and said it was no great loss when the action that got his father killed failed, because it had only been a diversion to keep the Death Eaters away from something more important, Rolf he wasn't there either because he was sensible like Susan. The muttering in the Great Hall rose to a low roar as people discussed these developments, but it quietened down again as the fames in the Goblet flared up again. Dumbledore didn't make any effort to hide his triumphant expression as he shouted. "The Second Champion for Hogwarts is Harry Potter!"

That confused most people in the Great Hall, because it was common knowledge that Harry was no longer a student since he earned his first masteries and left Britain over a year ago, but they were still trying to hold Sirius back from annihilating the old bastard when the flames in the goblet flared up again for the first of the last three times. "The Third Champion for Beauxbatons is Neville Longbottom!"

Then came. "The Third Champion for Durmstrang is Roger Davies!" Davies was first one called out since the initial three champions who was actually there, because his family had had enough money to send the second in succession to be Head of the Minor House of Davies to Durmstrang when everyone else who could was leaving Hogwarts and he wanted to show everyone at Hogwarts that he was better than them.

The last name out of the goblet, as the Third Champion for Hogwarts, had Sirius redoubling his attempts to attack Dumbledore, because it was Luna Lovegood, who was once again safely in another country.

By that stage Amelia had reached Dumbledore and she relieved him of all the parchment slips that came out of the Goblet of Fire. The way he tried to stop her getting the slips was further proof of what they already knew, that all but two or three at most of the 'Champions' who were supposedly impartially selected by the goblet were in fact set up to be selected. At least with the fire dying out in the Goblet after Luna's name came out, they knew no more names would be coming out.

Amelia ordered two DMLE Patrol Officers to take Dumbledore into the chamber the four champions who were present at Hogwarts had been directed to when their names came out, and the rest of the ones at the Triwizard table were herded into the chamber as well, with half the people at the High Table following them. The parchment slips were handed off to the Auror Investigators, Unspeakables and ICW Observers to be examined then Amelia rounded on Dumbledore. "How did all those other names get into the goblet and how did you force the Goblet to select them?"

Dumbledore drew himself up. "I formally protest these unfounded accusations against me as the Head of the House of Dumbledore, Madam Bones, and I hereby give formal notice that I will be demanding penalties from the House of Bones in restitution for this slander!"

The response to that was "You seem to have forgotten that the _Minor_ House of Dumbledore no long exists because the Wizengamot rescinded your and Fudge's Orders of Merlin First Class when it was proven that they were both granted under false pretences Mister Dumbledore, but if you want to do this the hard way, so be it!" and Amelia signalled to one of the Unspeakables, so Dumbledore was hit with a legilimency attack that he was powerless to stop.

After over half an hour of forcefully ripping secrets out of Dumbledore's head, the Unspeakable let him drop, shaking his (?) head in disgust. "They slipped the extra entries in when they were adding the parameters for the tournament. They also modified the terms of the tournament to have three instead of one champions per school, planning to say that the required changes to block out anyone who hadn't yet reached their majority must have caused a glitch in the goblet. All of the entry slips have been blood sealed to ensure that they were selected and lock them into the tournament's magical contracts and everyone except Krum, Flint and Davies was selected because they or their families have been making trouble for the ones behind bringing this thing back. Krum, Flint and Davies' families have been given incentives to get them to enter themselves into the tournament and the plan was for it to have been made easier for those three to get through. They've used the contracts to lock the tasks in as getting something from a dragon for the first task in November, recovering something from the Merfolk on the bottom of Black Lake for the second task in February and getting through a maze to take the Triwizards Cup for the third task in June. They've been setting up bribes with magical governments all over the world to apply pressure on the dragon reserves to have nesting mother dragons from some of the most dangerous breeds sent here for the tournament and the competitors will be blood matched to the dragons they chose for them... They've apparently got a particularly nasty Hungarian Horntail earmarked for Duke Potter. For anyone that manages to make it through the first task, they're planning to use the competitors' loved ones as hostages that they will have to rescue in the second task, making sure that any significant hostages die on the bottom of the lake so that they can blame the competitors for failing to save them. In case any of the competitors they want to get rid of make it through both the first and second tasks, they're arranging to use five X creatures, dementors and other lethal traps in the maze to finish them off in the third task…. And if they get through that as well there will be a media campaign accusing them of sabotaging the other competitors and getting them killed to make sure they won."

Aside from Dumbledore's groans from where he lay on the floor, there was silence in the chamber when the Unspeakable finished. The ones from the original Triwizard committee were horrified that Dumbledore had given their whole plan up that easily, as everything was now exposed, but at least half of them were confident that they wouldn't be killed by the ones looking at them with loathing and rage, because the protections of the Triwizard Tournament contracts still applied. Krum, Flint and Davies didn't seem to share the same confidence that they would be safe from retribution for going along with what had just been exposed as they were doing what they could to become invisible, quite a change from the arrogance they displayed as they strutted into the chamber.

It didn't take the experts long to confirm that the entries were indeed blood sealed to lock the people named into the tournament's magical contracts, and they brought in Rolf Scamander from Durmstrang, Harry, Luna, and Hermione from Australia and Susan, Neville and Megan from Beauxbatons to officially confirm who the entries were blood sealed to. They did have to get a senior ICW official in to force Krum to give the blood sample needed to match his entry to his magical signature because he refused to cooperate. They had originally requested that Amelia's Nordic Confederation equivalent do it but he pointed out that while Krum attended Durmstrang in the NMC, he was in fact a citizen of Magical Bulgaria so he didn't have authority over him. None of them had much respect for the Bulgarian Ministry, especially after what Harry had heard at the Quidditch World Cup Final, so they went to the ICW instead of Bulgaria to get someone to force Krum to comply.

Once everything was confirmed, they discussed the matter for a while and decided to tell everyone in the Great Hall, including the assembled media, what they'd discovered. Dumbledore and the rest of the original Triwizard Committee pretty much had to be forced out of the chamber at wand point because they didn't want to be in the pictures that they knew would be on the front page of every newspaper in the Magical World the next day.

Seeing the way half the people in the chamber were being forced out into the Great Hall had the reporters on the edge of their seats, because they knew that they were about to get a much bigger story than corrupt government officials trying to unearth a dangerous competition to attract popular support, but they got even more than they'd expected. The children of ones who posed a political threat to them being illegally entered into the tournament without their knowledge or forced to enter to save their families, even after they had left Britain to finish their education in other countries or already finished their education and left Magical Britain as Harry and Luna had. The number of competitors tripled so that they could attack more of their political rivals. An international sports star who took bribes to enter the contest on the understanding that it would be made safer for him to get through and win. Magical governments around the world pressuring dragon reserves into sending nesting mother dragons of dangerous breeds to Magical Britain for this contest, in an attempt to kill off as many competitors as possible and destabilise their families. Plans to put the children of other political rivals on the bottom of Black Lake as hostages and kill them off, blaming the competitors for letting them die…. The reporters were ecstatic, the story about what they did to force the tournament to be held two months ago had been explosive enough to dethrone two heads of state in Magical Europe, but this was _much_ bigger.

* * *

The dragon reserves were glad to see public confirmation of the notices they had received from the ICW, that they would _not_ be sending any nesting mother dragons to Magical Britain for this tournament, and in fact the exemption from the laws prohibiting importing dragons into Britain had been officially rescinded, so the dragons used would now all be Common Welsh Greens which _weren't_ nesting mothers, and the British reserves could supply nine generic Welsh Greens without trouble.

Careful perusal of the contracts had confirmed that there was nothing that officially required the other schools' delegations to remain at Hogwarts for the year, so it was decided that the competitors and officials would return to Hogwarts for the official events only. They were worried about Rolf at first, but the Durmstrang Board had done much the same to Karkaroff as Hogwarts did to Dumbledore, leaving him as the titular Headmaster because of the Triwizard Tournament contracts but demoting him to a junior teacher. The Durmstrang Board hadn't been at all impressed to find that between the fines paid and residual value of the Durmstrang ship they signed over to Hogwarts, it came to close to Half a Million Galleons in restitution for Karkaroff illegally bringing those powerful dark objects into Magical Britain. The estimates to have their ship returned to Durmstrang and repaired had come to so much that they decided to cut their losses and sign it over to reduce the amount they'd have to pay out. It was agreed that Rolf should be safe enough returning to Durmstrang to complete the last year of his NEWTs after Karkaroff had his teeth pulled like that.

Another battle the original Triwizard Committee lost was that of taking over Hogwarts' Quidditch Stadium for the year. When they tried to argue that they didn't have the budget to build another stadium for the tournament, Sirius and the others pointed out that there were plans to build grandstands down by the lake, so the grandstands could be changed into a stadium. Dumbledore's whining comment that the grandstands at the lake were needed for spectators to watch the task that would be carried out in the lake was met by laughter as Frank Longbottom asked what the hell they were supposed to see from the grandstands if the task was underwater. One of the others (Roger Davies' father actually) tried to say that they could use displays like they had at the Quidditch World Cup Final so that the spectators could follow the competitors' progress but Frank just laughed at him too. "Well if they have to watch it on the displays, there's no reason for the grandstands to be down at the lake! Use the budget you allocated to build the grandstands at the lake to build the stadium and they can watch in comfort in the stadium!"

It took another hour or two before the original committee members accepted that they weren't going to get their way, and the budget issues disappeared after the competitors had been selected and the plans for the three tasks were changed. Well over half of the Triwizard budget had been going into bribes for their cronies to organise export permits for nesting mother dragons and other lethal beasts that were no longer being brought into Magical Britain, not to mention the sizeable kickbacks that had been earmarked for the members of the Triwizard committee, so with the most dangerous creatures cancelled there was plenty of money to pay for everything.

It also took considerable argument to get the arena of the stadium warded to allow spectators to see and hear what was going on in the arena, but keep external distractions from interfering with what was happening in the arena. Most of the original committee kept insisting that that would add to the show and didn't appreciate being overruled, the family was looking forward to seeing what they thought about the _other_ part of the response to their insistence that all the restrictions would detract too much from the spectator appeal of the tournament.

The original committee members refused to admit how much changing the dragons used in the tournament to generic Welsh Greens, rather than nesting mothers from the bigger and more dangerous breeds, had reduced the cost and simplified the handling of the dragons, because a handful of competent dragon handlers would manage a Welsh Green who wasn't trying to protect her eggs and the pens could be much smaller and simpler. The nesting Hungarian Horntail they'd lined up for Harry to face would have required at least six or seven times more handlers and equipment to keep in line, contain and move than the Welsh Greens did, for that matter, feeding the Welsh Greens cost a fraction of what the bigger dragons would have too.

The ones behind the Triwizard Tournament and the media weren't at all happy about the fact that most of the competitors would only be at Hogwarts on the days of the three tasks, so the bullshit 'Wand Weighing' ceremony was held on the morning of the first task, they were also put out that privacy charms ensured that no-one but Ollivander and the competitors could discern the details of what their wands were. The reporters and officials could see him examining and testing the wands and talking to the competitors, but the only part they got to hear was when he announced that all the competitors' wands were in good working order and well matched to them.

Most of the reporters were also put out to hear that Harry, Luna, Neville, Susan, Fleur, Rolf and their families were all under exclusive contracts with the Quibbler Press, so no-one else was allowed to print anything about them other than their names and images in connection with their participation in the Triwizard Tournament. Even in connection with the tournament, any speculation or fabricated stories about them would result in legal action against both the reporters and publications involved. Dropping the names of the ones the family had used the courts to utterly destroy reminded everyone that this was no empty threat.

* * *

Even with all the reminders about the fact that they were outclassed in this, the ones behind the tournament still tried to blood match the dragons to specific competitors, so Ludo Bagman, the British Head of Magical Sports and Games who'd been the Triwizard committee's flunky from the Start, was quite put out and tried to stop it when the dragon tokens that were drawn for the competitors were scanned, and the quieter and easier dragons blood matched to Krum, Flint and Davies were replaced with the bigger and more aggressive dragons matched to Harry, Fleur and Neville. Susan, Neville and Rolf got the three quietest dragons while Harry, Luna and Fleur took the more average dragons.

Karkaroff proved that he wasn't anywhere as near as bright as he thought he was when he leapt up and claimed that Susan was cheating when she came out first to face the easy dragon that had been blood matched to Krum. He was furious when he was silenced and Frank Longbottom, as the new Minister for Magic for Magical Britain, stepped forward to officially announce to everyone in the stadium that ICW testing had found that the dragons used in the first task had been illegally blood matched to the competitors to make it easier for some and harder for others, so the ICW observers had mixed up the dragon allocations to ensure that none of the competitors were matched to the dragons they had originally been allocated. He also announced that there would be an investigation into who had been involved in illegally blood matching the dragons to skew the results of the first task, though at least one of those involved appeared to have been already exposed.

The competitors had mixed results with the dragons, Harry, Luna and Fleur probably had the easiest time of it because Harry used the dragons' form of parseltongue to convince his dragon that if it just gave up the egg that was the whole reason it had been dragged into this thing, they could both get out this quickly and without harm. That made his dragon examine the bauble he was guarding and when it smelled the magic on it, he kicked the egg at Harry in disgust. Luna and Fleur used their Veela allure to lull their dragons into a dozing state, though Fleur did get her robes set alight when she caught the dragon's attention while she was trying to sneak past it to get the egg.

Susan, Neville and Rolf used a mixture of conjuration, transfiguration and fire spells to distract their dragons while they got their eggs, though like Fleur, Rolf caught his dragon's attention as he was trying to sneak past to get the egg so he had some nasty burns to recover from. Susan and Neville used Goblin apparation to pop in, grab their eggs and pop away again so they got out of it with minor burns.

Krum, Flint and Davies all used the Conjunctivitis Curse on their dragons, so that was obviously how they were trained to deal with the dragons. Krum managed to get his egg with no worse burns than Rolf received, Flint was burnt alive because the idiot obviously believed that the dragon couldn't do anything to him if it couldn't see him and didn't try to get out of the way of the dragon's fire until it was too late, and Davies failed to get his egg because he ran away screaming in terror when he was caught by the edge of the dragon's fire and realised that it didn't need its eyes to find him.

* * *

The scoring was the expected mockery, with Dumbledore, Karkaroff and Bagman giving Flint and Davies higher scores than anyone else but Krum. When Bagman went to announce the scores and wrap things up though, Frank stopped him and cast a Sonorous. "As you have heard, some of the judges have expressed disappointment that some of the competitors did not put on a very impressive display of magic in this task… Well I am pleased to announce that Professors Dumbledore and Karkaroff have graciously offered to show the competitors how to put on the type of show that they expected the audience to see. We haven't had much time to organise this, but our friends in the Goblin Nation have agreed to loan us a couple of their dragons to put on this show for you, so with no further ado, gentlemen, please draw your dragons as the competitors did and get on with the show!"

As this was up on all of the display screens around the stadium, Dumbledore and Karkaroff had to accept that they couldn't get away with refusing or running away, so Dumbledore grudgingly put his hand into the bag that Amelia was holding out to him with an evil smile, flinching and jerking his hand out with an animated dragon token attached to his finger. Amelia's expression didn't change as she turned to hold out the bag to Karkaroff and he even more grudgingly put his hand in, jerking it out with a bigger and more solid dragon token latched onto his finger.

Frank took up the commentary again. "This should be interesting, Professor Dumbledore has drawn Mimoth, the younger of the British Goblin Nation's two Ukrainian Ironbellies, who is being trained to take over from Hagroth, their lead dragon one day. Mimoth is slightly smaller and less powerful than Hagroth, but this means that he will be faster and more agile. Hagroth, who Professor Karkaroff has drawn, offsets Mimoth's agility with greater power and the cunning she has gleaned from her extra years of experience. The number around Professor Karkaroff's token's neck says that he will go first, so if you proceed to the arena Professor Karkaroff, we will bring Hagroth in for you."

It was obvious to most watching the displays that Karkaroff was just about wetting himself as he stumbled out of the judges' box, and laughter could be heard from the grandstands.

Karkaroff pissed off Hagroth by catching her in the left eye with the Conjunctivitis Curse and it was looking as though he was going to be cooked faster than Flint had been until Harry popped into the arena and managed to distract her long enough to bribe her into letting Karkaroff live (with enough game that she'd take a week to sleep the meal off as she digested it), and Frank laughed as he took up the commentary again. "Well that was disappointing! I think that was less of a show than most of the competitors put on, let's hope that Professor Dumbledore can do a better job of demonstrating what he and Professor Karkaroff were talking about. Please give Duke Potter a big thank you for convincing Hagroth not to cook Professor Karkaroff though, as otherwise we would have been down a judge as well as a competitor…. I'm beginning to see why this tournament was cancelled, it's only the first task and we would have already been down to two competitors if someone hadn't confounded the Goblet of Fire enough to make it spit out three competitors for each school…."

That gave people something to think about as Hagroth was sent back to Gringotts via the Goblin Floo that was set up, and Mimoth was brought in. Mimoth was noticeably smaller than Hagroth, about ten feet shorter at fifty or so feet and slighter, he actually looked a little like a rather stout Hungarian Horntail. While he didn't have Hagroth's massive presence though, the spectators could see what Frank had been saying about him being faster and more agile as he didn't lumber about as Hagroth had.

Dumbledore was bright enough not to try the Conjunctivitis Curse after it had failed so badly three out of the four times it was used, so he mainly kept to flame spells and using the ability to apparate inside Hogwarts' wards that they'd allowed him to retain. Mimoth was chasing him around the arena though, and getting closer and closer to barbecuing him until Dumbledore gave up after about twelve minutes, apparating back to the judges' box with charred and smoking robes.

He hated conceding defeat, but when the alternative was death he was prepared to sacrifice a little of his pride. Frank was determined to make sure that he sacrificed more than a _little_ though, so everyone in the stadium heard both sides of their discussion. "I have to say Professor Dumbledore that neither you or Professor Karkaroff put on a show that was anywhere near as good as I expected, given your earlier disparaging comments about the displays of magic the competitors managed. Could it be that facing a dragon was in fact more difficult than the two of you were making out?"

"I must remind you Mist…." Frank gave him a look that he'd come to know from Harry and Sirius. "_Minister_ Longbottom, that the Ukrainian Ironbellies that Professor Karkaroff and I faced were far larger and more dangerous than the Common Welsh Greens that the Champions faced…."

"But Duke Potter also faced Hagroth, putting on a better show than Professor Karkaroff did might I add _and_ managing to stop her cooking and eating him Professor Dumbledore, and as you well know the champions were originally scheduled to face more dangerous breeds than the Ironbellies until we changed the contest, and Nesting Mothers at that! It seems to me that you are trying to take away from the achievements of the teenagers who have been made to participate in this tournament of your's."

"I would never disparage the champions' achievements Minister Longbottom, but the fact remains that Duke Potter was doing little more than hopping around as he bribed the dragon to let Professor Karkaroff live, which wasn't exactly an impressive display of magic..."

"So Duke Potter apparating about the arena and casting flame spells to attract Hagroth's attention while he used his rare magical talent to persuade her to let your fellow judge live was not impressive magic, but _you_ apparating around the arena casting flame spells until Mimoth chased you out of the arena, and was then calmed down enough by Duke Potter to leave peacefully, _was_ impressive Professor Dumbledore? That smacks of hypocrisy and undeserved self praise to me Professor. If I see anything similar or any more examples of the biased scoring that you, Professor Karkaroff and Mister Bagman came out with in this task in the next two tasks, we will cancel your input into the judging altogether Professor!"

With that he dismissively turned his back on him and faced the stands. "As you can see my friends, facing a dragon is never something to be taken lightly, one of competitors has already died from failing to give the dragon he faced the respect it deserved and Professor Karkaroff would have joined him if Duke Potter had not voluntarily returned to the arena to save him. I must admit that I find some of the judges' decisions questionable, but at this point Viktor Krum of Durmstrang is leading in points, followed by Susan Bones and Neville Longbottom of Beauxbatons, Rolf Scamander of Durmstrang, Luna Lovegood representing Hogwarts, Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons, Harry Potter representing Hogwarts and Roger Davies of Durmstrang, because Mister Davies gave up without retrieving his egg. Marcus Flint of Hogwarts has been killed and therefore eliminated from the tournament because he failed to make enough of an effort to avoid the dragon's fire. Personally, I believe that Duke Potter should have received more points for his performance, and also for voluntarily returning to the arena twice to handle additional dragons that the people facing them failed to conquer, but that is how the points stand at this point."

* * *

The next fight was over the Yule Ball scheduled for the Triwizard Tournament being cancelled. Dumbledore and the other original Triwizard committee members didn't appreciate being reminded that it was pointless holding a Triwizard Ball at Hogwarts when there was no-one _at_ Hogwarts who was participating in the Triwizard Tournament any more. They finally dropped the matter after a week or so of pointless arguments, but Dumbledore opened another can of worms when he stupidly tried to use the original plan of using the champions' dates to the Yule Ball as the hostages that would be placed at the bottom of Black Lake to be rescued. He only left that meeting alive because of the protections of the Triwizard contracts, and as it was he and some of the other original committee members spent time in hospital being treated for the injuries they received in the altercation.

In the end it took putting the original members of the Triwizard committee at the bottom of Black Lake under the stasis charms that they'd kept arguing would be perfectly safe for the hostages, and telling them if there was even a hint that any of them were still thinking about using hostages in the Second task, they'd _all_ remain down there until the last of them had been found and tagged with the required spell that would allow them to be released, and they'd be scattered all over the bottom of the lake. One of them had drowned when his stasis charm failed before the hour and a half they were left down there was up, and most of the others were almost frozen to death by the time they were brought back up so they weren't about to risk going through anything like that again… Not when they'd gotten the point that there wasn't much chance that they'd all be tracked down, tagged for release and released before their stasis charms had failed. They agreed that the champions would be retrieving tokens that held some meaning for them from the bottom of the lake to meet the requirements of the clues in the eggs and there would be no further debate on the matter!

The idea of competing with the Longbottom's Yule Ball was stupid anyway. This was the third time it had been held since Frank and Alice had been rescued from St Mungo's so that they could be healed and rejoin the world. The first time it emptied all the other balls because everyone wanted to get their hooks into the newly restored Longbottoms. The second time it was just about the only ball on because the Druids had cleaned out most of the wealthy 'traditional' Pureblood houses…. And this time it was the ball held by the newly elected Minister Longbottom and Lady Longbottom, his Senior Undersecretary (this had caused outrage in the Ministry until Minister Longbottom coldly told everyone that there were only a handful of people in the Ministry he trusted enough to be his Undersecretary and the others were needed in the positions they currently held). There was no way that anyone of any importance or anyone in the family would go to the Triwizard Yule Ball when it clashed with the Minister's Yule Ball, and the only Triwizard champion who was ever likely to attend was Roger Davies _if_ he'd gone home for Christmas, so the Triwizard Yule Ball never had a chance of succeeding.

* * *

Harry, Luna, Neville and Susan had essentially been training for the Second Task for over eighteen months chronologically (over three years elapsed time) and Fleur had over a year of elapsed time in by the day of the task. Most of this was swimming underwater around the Barrier Reef and at the other Potter and Black island estates, so most of the exercise was in much warmer waters than they'd find in Black Lake, but the swimming practice gave them the stamina they'd need and they were using the loch on the Potter Estate just south of Hadrian's wall and their island estates in the Hebrides to acclimatise to the cold. Harry was using his metamorph talent to turn himself into a Merman and Luna and Hermione were by now well enough practised in human transfiguration to easily turn themselves into Mermaids, but Neville, Susan and Megan were using transfiguration to simulate the effects of Gillyweed to allow them to breathe and swim better underwater. Fleur (and Rolf, as they were helping him get ready as well), were actually using Gillyweed to get the same effects.

While they weren't sure that the ones behind the Triwizard Tournament knew about the Merfolk's antipathy with Veela and other siren breeds, or that Veela were weaker underwater because they were separated from the fire and air energies that they were closely aligned with, they _were_ sure that they'd be trying something under Black Lake, so they had protective outfits made up. Harry and Luna were wearing dragonhide robes because they needed room for their tails to move when they were in Mer form, they _also_ had to go commando under their robes when they transformed because their clothes didn't transform like they did in an animagus transformation, so they had to use an undressing charm to vanish their trousers and boots before they transformed into Mer form and a dressing charm to bring them back when they returned to human form. Neville, Susan, Fleur and Rolf were wearing dragonhide suits that didn't interfere with their neck gills or webbed hands and feet. All of them were wearing dragonhide hats modelled on World War Two era leather flying helmets and goggles, so all six of them would be well protected for the task.

It was still bloody cold when the day of the second task came up at the end of February, so Harry cut Dumbledore off as he started a long ramble about taking a moment to think about the fact that they'd lost Mister Flint while he was bravely competing in the First Task. "He was nothing but an idiot who believed that a dragon would just sit there and do nothing after he'd attacked its eyes with that curse he shouldn't have been allowed to use old man! It took over a week for the four dragons to be healed from what those curses did to them, and I had to assure Hagroth that the next time Karkaroff set foot in any of the Goblin Nations, he'd be delivered to her for an accounting of what he did to her to calm her down." Karkaroff looked terrified at the prospect of that. "As far as _bravely_ competing goes, Flint wasn't brave, he was _stupid_, the only one he could be called braver than was Davies, who wet himself and ran away as soon as he realised that that foul curse hadn't stopped the dragon being dangerous. Now while you'll be comfortable sitting up here with your warming charms, we're bloody cold and we're going to be a lot bloody colder once we get into that water so I just want to get it over with. Shut up and start the bloody task!"

Neville snorted and bowed to Harry. "Well said Duke Potter, I could not have put it better myself!"

Rolf also bowed to him and Luna, Sue and Fleur all curtsied to him. "Indeed your Grace!"

Dumbledore and Davies were both furious about what Harry had said (Krum just wanted to get this over and done with so that he could increase his lead in the tournament), but they knew that they couldn't get away with saying or doing anything while everyone was watching so without another word, Dumbledore raised his wand and set off the cannon blast to start the task.

Fleur and Rolf stuffed Gillyweed in their mouths, set their goggles in place and vanished their robes and boots then dove into the water. Neville and Susan set their goggles in place and vanished their robes and boots then dove into the water, making the Gillyweed transformations as they did so. Harry and Luna vanished their trousers and boots, set their goggles in place and dove in, transforming into their Mer forms as they did so. Krum dove in and then transformed his head and shoulders into a shark's head, Harry and the others laughed at him because all that would do was let him breathe underwater, it would do absolutely nothing to help him swim…. In fact it would make it _harder_ for him to swim because it would restrict the movement of his arms. Davies shrugged out of his robes and cast a bubblehead charm on himself and then dove in, immediately swimming off in the direction of the Mer village so he'd obviously been told where it was.

Krum was the next one to take off, also heading straight for the village, because the others were waiting until the Gillyweed had taken effect for Fleur and Rolf. They set off together and had no trouble overtaking both Krum and Davies. Harry and Luna could have easily left the others behind, because they could swim far faster in their Mer forms, but they were safer in a group and the Gillyweed changes let the others swim faster than unassisted humans anyway.

They found the trouble they'd been expecting when they reached the Mer Village, because they could feel the barely contained aggression of the assembled Merfolk, nearly all of whom were holding what appeared to be freshly sharpened tridents. Harry watched the Merfolk while the others retrieved their tokens, Luna collecting his and passing it to him when she returned. When they made a move to leave the village, the Merfolk swooped in, only to recoil when Harry, Luna, Neville and Sue called their family heirloom weapons to them and moved forward to meet the attack, swinging swords and axes that cut the heads off their tridents as if they were no more than strands of seaweed. Rolf willed the Scamanders' heirloom dagger into a spear and stayed back to help guard Fleur as she only had her wand and a knife to protect herself.

When the Merfolk pulled back in shock at their response, Harry pointed the shining Sword of Gryffindor at the older Merwoman whose torc proclaimed was the village's Chieftainess and said "Chieftainess! Explain why your people have attacked us like this! As you can see, we have refrained from harming them so far, but that will soon change unless you can give us a good reason to spare you!"

The Chieftainess came forward, trying to understand what was going on here. Whatever the old one had told her, it was obvious that this one who looked and acted like a Merman warrior was not making an empty threat, they could have quite easily wounded or killed many of her people when they were attacked, but instead they'd disabled their weapons and called for an explanation.

When she was in front of Harry, close enough for him to easily cut off her head with that shining sword, she spoke. "The old one told us that you six are criminals, sent here for trial by combat. He also told me that the females are Veela, who it has been decreed must die if they have the gall to enter our world, and that two marked guards would come with you to stop you escaping before your trial by combat. What did you do with the guards? Have you killed them? At first I thought you two were the guards but you do not bear the mark the old one told me would identify them."

No-one could mistake Harry's bitter bark of laughter for humour. "No, we are not the guards because there _are_ no guards, or criminals…. Unless you count the old bastard who tried to set us up to be killed here. We are here as part of a competition that all of us were forced into against our will. The other two who will bear the mark you are expecting are competing by choice, and because the old man was supposed to make it easier for them to win. He needs to help them because if it was a true contest they would come last, one of them has already died for his stupidity….."

This time there _was_ humour in his laugh. "One of the marked ones coming shows their stupidity, because he has given himself the head of a shark to breathe down here, but nothing to help him move down here, the other one who has done nothing but make an air bubble around his head will be able to swim faster than him…. So Chieftainess, will you tell your people to leave us alone because you have been lied to about us, or will we kill you all for listening to lies and attacking us?"

She looked at him for a long moment and then turned to call out to her people. "Leave these ones alone! We have been lied to, they are not criminals and they have spared us when we attacked them unfairly."

Harry nodded to her and then sent the Sword of Gryffindor back to where it came from, the others doing the same except for Rolf, who willed the Scamander weapon back to its dagger form and sheathed it, Fleur doing the same with her wand and knife. Harry asked the Chieftainess to observe the other two's actions when they arrived and then follow Shark Head back to the shore when he retrieved what he came for, because they needed her to tell the elders the lies that the old one had told her to make her people attack them.

With that, they left, going back a different way to avoid Davies and Krum. When they arrived at the dock, Harry, Luna, Neville and Susan transformed back and got out of the water, ducking into the tent there to change into dry clothes and robes while Fleur and Rolf waited for the effects of the Gillyweed to wear off before they left the water.

* * *

Dumbledore didn't like the looks he was getting when Potter and the others pulled Amelia Bones, Frank Longbottom, McGonagall, Maxime and the French and Nordic officials aside after they'd gotten changed into dry clothes…. He didn't know whether the fact that they were all wearing dragonhide robes and boots was significant either. The way Potter broke off to help Delacour and Scamander out of the water when they surfaced just raised more questions, as did the way they joined the discussion as soon as they'd changed into dry clothes and robes.

When Davies returned, he strutted up to the Judges' panel, eagerly asking. "Am I the first back?"

His face fell when Karkaroff just morosely pointed to where the others were and he saw the six who were supposed to be dealt with by the Merfolk standing with the other judges, Professor McGonagall, Minister Longbottom and Director Bones, apparently unharmed.

Dumbledore knew that he was really in trouble when the Chieftainess of the Mer village surfaced when Krum returned about fifteen minutes over the hour limit and was climbing out of the water, calling out to Potter in Mermish. "_You told me that Shark Head would be slow Warrior, but you did not say that he would be as slow as a sea slug! Where are the elders I must speak with?_"

It was a surprise when Potter bowed to her and responded in Mermish. "_My apologies Chieftainess, I only saw him at the start and he must have gotten slower as he tired…._" He placed a hand on Bones' shoulder. "_This is one of __our__ elders, she will assemble the other elders who need to hear your words. Please make yourself comfortable __back__ in your __world until she calls you to speak with you._" The Mer Chieftainess nodded to him and sank under the water.

Dumbledore could hear the Bones girl laughing at Potter. "You do know that Auntie Ami is going to make you pay for calling her an _Elder_, don't you Harry?"

Potter didn't seem at all concerned as he bowed to the girl's Aunt. "I am confident that the esteemed Director Bones understands that the use of the honorary title was intended to inform the Chieftainess of the Director's importance and the esteem that she is held in."

He could see that Bones was trying to cover up her own laughter as she pretended to growl at him. "That never worked for your father Duke Potter and it won't work for you, no matter how cute you were as a baby!"

Dumbledore tried to cover up his interest as she glanced at the judges' panel with a frown. "We need to get this circus out of the way quickly so Minerva, Frank and I can get Alastor, Newt and a few of the so called Ministry experts together and get the full story from the Merfolk about what they were told and expected to do."

He saw Potter nod and the group head towards the judges' panel. When they arrived, Longbottom said. "Krum's returned now so start the scoring, he'll be back as soon as he has some dry clothes on, but there's no need to wait in him to start, get to it!"

Frank Longbottom's expression got grimmer as the scoring progressed and he stopped Bagman when he went to announce the scores. "No. There needs to be an adjustment before anything's announced. Dumbledore, Karkaroff, I told you at the end of the first task that you would be removed from the judging if you didn't curtail your blatant bias, but you couldn't help yourselves, awarding top points for Krum's ill conceived and functionally wanting shark head transformation while giving Duke Potter Peverell and Lady Lovegood Cathbad's far more complex, suitable and extremely effective Merfolk transformations pathetic scores is unconscionable, as are the scores you gave Baron Longbottom and Countess Bones' more effective and impressive transformations which properly replicated the effects of Gillyweed. You even scored Davies' pathetic bubblehead charm higher than any of the more impressive feats of transformation or magical plants used by the other competitors who came back with their tokens a long time before Davies, after dealing with an armed altercation in the Mer village that someone's lies to the Merfolk created to boot. Bagman, congratulations, you're apparently the only one of these idiots who had the sense to take my warnings seriously enough to make some effort to be fairer in your scoring. Dumbledore and Karkaroff are no longer judges in this tournament, remove the scores they gave and add up the scores of the remaining four judges to give us the scores for this task, then add them to the First Task scores."

Bagman looked nervously at Dumbledore, but grabbed a quill and parchment and started adding up the scores for the eight competitors for the Second Task, and the total points for each competitor. Half of his answers didn't match the others', but they patiently pointed out his errors and he handed the agreed lists to Minister Longbottom. As Frank turned to face the mirror that was sending everything up to the displays in the stadium, Dumbledore realised that everything that had been said before had been sent to the stadium too and he looked as though he was about to explode, but Frank started talking at that point.

"As many here would have heard me warn the judges at the First Task, two of the Triwizard Tournament judges have been removed from the judging panel because of the excessively biased scores they have been awarding. The judges removed are Albus Dumbledore of Hogwarts and Igor Karkaroff of Durmstrang, so the only head of school who remains on the judging panel now is Madame Olympe Maxime, the Headmistress of Beauxbatons. The scores awarded for the second task are the total of Madame Maximes' and the Ministry officials representing Magical Britain, Magical France and the Nordic Magical Confederation, which of course means that they are out of forty, rather than out of sixty. Please keep in mind that we have not altered the scores for the First Task, so in my opinion the total scores do not properly represent how the competitors have performed in the tournament. Lady Susan Bones of Beauxbatons is now slightly ahead in points in this tournament, closely followed by Viktor Krum of Durmstrang, Lady Luna Lovegood, representing Hogwarts, and Lord Neville Longbottom of Beauxbatons are next, followed by Mister Rolf Scamander of Durmstrang, Lady Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons, and Duke Henry Potter representing Hogwarts and Roger Davies of Durmstrang are still the last two. This will be the order that the competitors will be starting in the Third and Final Task of this tournament, being held in the third week of June. We hope to see you back for the completion of the Triwizard Tournament."

* * *

As soon as finished speaking, Amelia's people cancelled the charms forwarding the sounds and images to the stadium, escorted Dumbledore, Karkaroff, Bagman, Krum and Davies out of the area and secured the perimeter. Frank, Alice, Amelia, Minerva, Alastor and Newt Scamander were all smiling, because they had also learned how to do the Gillyweed transformations on themselves, but the Auror Investigators and other Ministry personnel would have to use actual Gillyweed, and while it was possible to get used to it, it was still nasty stuff. It didn't take too long to get the Mer village Chieftainess' statement about what she had been told about the humans who would be coming to their village, her positive identification of Albus Dumbledore as 'the old one' who had told her that, and her and other Merfolk from her village's statements about what happened when they attacked Harry and the others on the basis of what she'd been told.

With that, she and her people returned to their village and the humans left the lake, changing into dry clothes and heading off to collect Harry and the others' memories of the events under the lake and start processing the information.

Dumbledore, Karkaroff, Krum and Davies were most definitely _not_ happy with the media coverage of the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament, because Dumbledore and Karkaroff were castigated about what Frank had exposed about their biased scoring and everyone was agreeing with Frank's decision to remove them as judges. While Dumbledore was relieved that the Triwizard Tournament contract protected him from being fired or imprisoned until after the tournament was finished, he also knew that he'd almost certainly be taken into custody the moment it did, so he was wracking his brain, trying to find a way to escape as soon as he was released from the Triwizard contract.

Meanwhile, Krum and Davies weren't having much fun either, because they were now known as Shark Head and the Squib, the one for his poorly thought out and largely useless transformation, and the other for his pathetic showing in both tasks to date.


	13. Brave New World

**There's been a slight change of order for the Third Task as I realised that the way I wrote the first task would have weighted the scores more heavily in Krum and co's favour, it's now Susan, then Krum, Luna, Neville, Rolf, Fleur, Harry and Davies.**

**Due to ****a concept I'm currently trying to worry out****, Hermione is now Lady Hufflepuff and Luna is Lady Ravenclaw, ****and Goblin Silver is now referred to as ****Myddril (the Druids' name for goblin silver, which was corrupted to Mithril in the version Tolkien was told).**** Neither of these changes have much effect on the story going back, but Hermione becoming Lady Hufflepuff lets me add something here, and using 'goblin silver' ****all the time ****has been irritating me for a while now…. ****All houses that originated as Druid Families, Noble or other, are now identified as Druid Houses ****too****.**

**Usual disclaimer, no rights to anything from JKR's stories.**

They didn't bother prosecuting Dumbledore or the others trying to get them killed after the Second Task, the evidence was just filed for the case to be presented after the Third Task.

Things were quiet for nearly two months after the Second Task while the giant hedges that would make up the maze were being grown, but the obstacles were being organised as well. One advantage they had was that the Unspeakable who ripped the plans for the Triwizard Tournament out of Dumbledore's head had only announced a fraction of what he extracted from the manipulative old bastard, and he'd left holes all through the fabric of his memory, so Dumbledore didn't really know what he'd lost.

The biggest secret that the Unspeakable had taken was how Dumbledore had gotten control of so many people over the past ninety odd years. They'd all presumed that it was the Dumbledore mind magics that let him steal so much over the years, but while that was definitely part of it, it wasn't the biggest weapon in his arsenal, no, his lover had brought that with him when he was sent to Britain after he being thrown out of Durmstrang in disgrace.

What the Unspeakable discovered was that Gellert Grindelwald had actually been expelled from Durmstrang and almost imprisoned for a dark ritual that killed his lover by stealing his, well for want of a better term, stealing his magic and soul. Durmstrang and the Nordic Confederation officials couldn't determine exactly what he had done and the laws had been looser at the end of the Nineteenth Century, so all they could do to him was throw him out of Durmstrang and the Nordic Magical Confederation and ban him from ever returning.

What they hadn't realised was that the incident Gellert was expelled for hadn't been the first time he'd used that ritual, he'd previously experimented on a few young witches and wizards who were of so little account that no-one bothered making any real effort to find out why they disappeared from their villages. With each ritual, Gellert had taken what magical power his victims had, and he took more and more from them before they died as his power and understanding of the ritual grew. By the time he performed the ritual on his lover at Durmstrang he was managing to steal the victim's magical signature along with his or her magic, and that was what he was really after from his lover, because his lover had been the last living member of a family that had been the custodians of some of the most potent blood magic in Europe for over a thousand years, but the Strazberg vault which held the knowledge of their blood magic was restricted to the Head and Heir of the family only, which meant that his lover wouldn't share it with him.

Gellert was nothing if not pragmatic though, and he reasoned that he could always find another lover, but the Strazberg Blood Magic could give him power over most witches and wizards if he could access it, so one night Otto Strazberg woke up tied to an alter stone. Otto tried everything he could think of to escape, but by the end of the ritual he was naught but an empty husk and Gellert Grindelwald had a magical signature that allowed him to be accepted by the Strazberg vault which held the scrolls and journals documenting the Strazberg Family magic. Gellert took took everything from the Strazberg vault when he was thrown out of Durmstrang and sent to Britain to live in Godric's Hollow with his Great-Aunt Bathilda Bagshot, and that's where he found his new lover.

Albus Dumbledore had just graduated from Hogwarts when Gellert was sent to live with his Great-Aunt, and they immediately gravitated towards each other. Albus and Gellert were much alike, attractive, charismatic boys with intellects far and above most in Magical Britain and towering egos which convinced them that they had the right to do whatever it took to make their ambitions come to fruition, because everyone else was beneath them.

Over the next year or so, Albus and Gellert mapped out their plans to rule the Magical world, using the Dumbledore Mind Magics, the Strazberg Blood Magic and the dark arts and rituals that Gellert had uncovered at Durmstrang to gain the power they needed. After the last of the Strazbergs was known to have died in the dark rituals he performed at Durmstrang, which meant that he would be watched by anyone from there or in the Confederation of Nordic Magical States, Gellert realised that they couldn't afford to let anyone discover that they were using the Strazberg Blood Magic to force people to do what they wanted.

It was Albus who came up with the solution for this, staging an event that publicly broke them up and eliminated most people who knew much about what they were doing (by killing off his family, but they botched killing his brother Aberforth so they had to use the mind magics and blood magics to manipulate his memories of what happened) and then launching a campaign to convince most people in Magical Europe and Britain believe that blood magic was only used in dark rituals and therefore needed to be banned. He chipped away at this for forty odd years, then when he rose to power in the Wizengamot of Magical Britain and the International Confederation of Wizards in the Forties he had blood magic made illegal in the Wizarding World and banned any works relating to it. What this meant was that Albus Dumbledore had an extensive library and decades of experience with using blood magic, but most Wizarding people didn't know how to recognise it if they uncovered evidence of it being used, so he'd been using blood magic to keep most people under control.

However there were other elements that Albus and Gellert never understood which limited the amount of control they had over others, namely the fact that most of the blood rituals had an element of soul magic to them, and soul magic only works properly with knowing and willing participation of those involved. Gellert and Albus had never really understood this, as in their minds the only thing that truly mattered was power (young Tom Riddle learnt this lesson well while he was under Albus' hand), but Albus did have some success in using the Dumbledore Mind Magics to warp the minds of those who followed him enough for the soul magic to have some effect.

* * *

He had been trying to decipher what Lily Potter had done to protect her son since November Eighty One, because she had not only derailed his plans to get rid of the Potters and claim everything they had, she had somehow managed to use her and her husband's willing sacrifice to stop something that was supposed to be unstoppable. He'd discovered remnants of blood runes on the infant after he had that oaf Hagrid bring the child to him, but he couldn't recognise the runes and hadn't managed to track down anything about them in the extensive libraries he'd…. _collected_… over the last century.

The reason this was relevant leading up to the Third Task was that Albus was using blood magic to ensure that the Third task went as planned. He knew that they wouldn't be allowed to have obviously lethal obstacles in the maze, so the default state of the creatures and other obstacles for the maze would be dangerous but not necessarily lethal. What wouldn't be shown though was the blood magic that changed that state according to who the champions, and him and Karkaroff because he knew there was a good chance they'd be forced to go through the maze first to prove that it was survivable, were when they actually encountered the creatures and other obstacles.

Unfortunately, with Bones' niece going through the maze first, he couldn't afford to make the obstacles more lethal for her until she was well into the maze, otherwise they'd be likely to stop the task before Potter got into the maze. He'd make it easier for Krum to make it look as though the maze was survivable. He'd let the Lovegood girl and Longbottom Heir get about halfway in before they were torn apart, give the Scamander Heir a bit of a chance to survive, have the Veela and Potter killed off a little way into the maze and go easy on the Davies boy to give the appearance that Krum had some competition… Merlin, he'd have to almost shut the obstacles down to give Davies a chance to make it through, he was such a pathetic excuse of a wizard! He couldn't afford to make it look that easy for himself and Karkaroff, but he would add triggers keyed to their blood signatures to make them non-lethal and limit the damage to something they would recover from.

The thing was, while Albus believed that no-one could work out what he was doing as he carefully formulated the blood magic that would be used to alter the behaviour of the creatures and other obstacles in the maze on the basis of the blood signatures of the ones entering the maze, everything he did and said was being recorded, and three of the best magical minds in centuries were working on reversing his plans, or at least levelling the playing field.

While they hadn't been compressing time anywhere near as much since they finished their year at Hogwarts, Harry, Hermione and Luna had effectively lived eleven years in the nearly three years since they started using the runic time chambers in their trunks, and with their intensity that was the equivalent of at least twenty years of magical study for anyone else. They had copies of all the blood magic tomes and scrolls that Dumbledore had hidden away, because the Unspeakable had ripped the information about their location and how to access them out of Dumbledore's mind when the Triwizard Tournament began, and over a year of study of the materials in real time meant that Harry, Hermione and Luna were far more knowledgeable on the subject than Dumbledore was now.

* * *

One thing the blood magic had allowed them to do was complete the tantric ritual that they'd been working on to enhance their power, bond, and ability to communicate and share power and talents with each other. This tantric ritual would _only_ work for them, because it was tailored to require a metamorphmagus with all of Harry's talents, a veela and an earth mother, and they all needed to be very powerful and already have a strong bond with each other.

Hermione's earth mother talent had come through Helga Hufflepuff, and there were a very limited number of witches who had been identified as having this talent in the history of the Magical world. A large part of it was the ability to directly draw on ley line energy and channel it into other things, traditionally it had been used to grow things in the earth but it could also be used for other things, and their tantric ritual allowed Hermione to use this to make the three of them more powerful than any other group of witches and wizards on the planet if she could tap into ley lines. This would have obvious advantages in Magical combat, among other things.

The first time they did the ritual, they were all physically twenty or twenty one and it released a massive amount of Veela energy as Luna made her change into a full Veela, which enhanced all of them and their four familiars. Hedwig was larger and more like a Veela in her full Bennu form, but she could also change her public form at will, hold far more magical energy and her magical transports were essentially invisible and silent now. Crookshanks and the other Mngwa also held far more energy now, so they could 'jump' much further to go to one of their bonded if they were in trouble, had acquired the sphinxes' level of intelligence and capacity for human speech and their full Mngwa forms were larger and more fearsome and magically resistant. It also put an end to Harry, Hermione and Luna being betrothed, because the magical bonding changed their status to married. While they'd been expecting that to happen though, one thing _was_ a surprise as they'd been expecting Hermione to become Duchess Potter and Luna Duchess Peverell when they married, but they were _both_ recorded as Duchess Potter-Peverell.

They did the ritual a few more times, until they stopped getting any notable gains from it, but by then they were all much more powerful and had elements of each other's talents, and the level of their bond with each other and their familiars was incredible, they could communicate, share memories and magical power as if they were one entity.

* * *

As the Third Task drew near, Hermione was channelling more power into the wards around Hogwarts and the Forbidden Forest to block any and all wizarding portkeys and apparition to make sure that there were no traps to take anyone out of or bring anything else into the maze (they all had the locator runes from the locator bracelets in their communicator/portkey watches but it was better to have it play out where they had help right there), and they finalised their modifications to the blood magic on the creatures and obstacles in the maze. In the end, they decided that it would be poetic justice for the creatures and obstacles to react to Dumbledore and Karkaroff the way Dumbledore had been trying to set them to react to Harry, but the triggers relating to everyone else were removed, so they would behave as they were supposedly meant to for the actual competitors. The only magical signature showing on the blood magic placed on the creatures and other obstacles would be Dumbledore's, so the evidence would indicate that he'd apparently been trying to manipulate the obstacles and made a fatal mistake, getting what he wanted to use to protect himself mixed up with what he planned to use to kill off some of the competitors.

Sue would let Krum get ahead of her and they'd let him win if he could overcome the obstacles by himself. Sue, Luna and Neville and Rolf, Fleur and Harry would be going through the maze as two groups of three and watch out for each other, and Davies could go through by himself. They discussed warning Krum and Davies about the fact that the maze would probably be more dangerous than they expected, but decided that if they didn't get the hint from what happened when Dumbledore and Karkaroff went through in front of them, they were too stupid to deserve any more warnings.

On the day of the Third Task, Dumbledore, Karkaroff and most of the others from the original Triwizard Committee were looking smug, so it was fairly obvious what they were expecting to happen. Dumbledore and Karkaroff tried to act surprised and affronted when they were told that they would be going through the maze first to prove that it was survivable, but they couldn't keep the superior looks off their faces as they were sure they'd pulled the wool over everyone's eyes.

It _was_ a little gruesome to watch the recordings as Dumbledore was sprayed with acid and died screaming because no-one could disable the mechanisms of the obstacle that he triggered and Karkaroff was screaming for someone to help him until he finally had his head ripped off by one of the Acromantulas that were fighting over him, but their aggression had been amplified by the blood magic so that they couldn't be stopped until they'd been blown apart. Listening to Dumbledore and Karkaroff's screaming was bad enough, but watching what happened on the displays was worse.

* * *

There was a delay as the mess was cleaned up, the obstacles that killed Dumbledore and Karkaroff were removed and the rest of the maze was tested for any more deadly traps. The Aurors who went through Dumbledore's chambers found his notes for what he'd been planning to cause the obstacles to do to each of the champions (it's not too hard to find something when you've seen where it was hidden) and reported that he'd apparently linked his and Karkaroff's blood signatures to what he was preparing for Duke Potter by mistake. The fun didn't stop there though, because one of the original Committee members was actually stupid enough to say that that wasn't the way it was supposed to happen and some of the others tried to shut him up, so they were arrested and dragged off to the DMLE's holding cells to be questioned.

Krum and Davies tried to argue that the task had obviously been sabotaged and had to be cancelled, but the last of the original committee members refused. They were furious that their plans to wipe out Harry and the others in this task had backfired because Dumbledore had screwed up, and they couldn't take it out on him any more, so they told Krum and Davies that they had two choices, either complete the Third Task or pull out and lose their magic. _That_ had Krum being shouted at by the Bulgarian Magical Sports and Games representative, and the gist of what was being shouted was that if he did anything to jeopardise his magic, he better start running and never stop because they would never stop hunting him if he ruined their national team's chances.

Harry couldn't help laughing when Krum whined at the official in Bulgarian that it was _supposed_ to have been set up so that he could get through safely, because the idiot had just confirmed in front of the DMLE and ICW observers that he knew that there had been plans to fix the third task of the Triwizard Tournament. The Bulgarian official was too angry to speak at that point, he just grabbed Krum's robes and dragged him over to where Harry, Luna, Susan, Neville, Fleur and Rolf were waiting near the entrance to the maze. The fact that Krum was the only competitor _not_ covered from head to toe in dragonhide (except for the leather facing on their gloves to allow magic to pass through) made it obvious who hadn't been planning to actually compete in the third task. Some of the officials were muttering about not putting on the right sort of display when they were wearing those protective suits and robes but at least they were obviously ready to go into the maze.

Davies had been watching the recording of what happened to Dumbledore and Karkaroff over the officials' shoulders and he did something Harry never thought he'd see anyone from the Magical world do, he threw his wand on the table in front of his father and made sure everyone heard him. "I know you're going to say that the shame to the family of my giving up my magic would be worse than death, but after watching wizards like Dumbledore and Karkaroff getting killed that easily you can shove that up your arse Dad! I'm withdrawing from this bloody death trap! There's my wand, if the family honour is that important to you, you can take my place!"

With that, he turned and walked away quickly.

* * *

Davies' father was furious and he barked at Bagman to start the bloody task. Bagman looked at the other judges and they nodded, so he walked over to the competitors and asked if they were ready and when they said yes, made sure that they were in the order they'd be entering the maze, telling them that they'd be entering at one minute intervals. With one last look at the judges' table, he raised his wand and set off a cannon blast to send Susan into the maze.

Sue went a short way into the maze and then cast a notice-me-not charm over the entrance to an obvious dead end, staying hidden until after the second cannon blast went off and Krum ran past her. When the third cannon blast went off and Luna entered the maze, Sue joined her and they hugged each other as they waited for Neville to enter the maze. Neville hugged both girls when he joined them and they put their wands away, calling their heirloom swords to them before they headed off into the maze as they'd be going for power over finesse in there.

Rolf went just far enough into the maze to get out of sight of the entrance and exchanged his wand for the Scamander dagger, willing it into a half sword as he waited for Fleur. When Harry joined them a minute after Fleur with the Sword of Gryffindor in his hand, Fleur looked from their swords to the wand in her hand and shook her head ruefully but Harry laughed and said in French. "_You may not __have access to__ a __magical __sword __Fleur__, but __don't forget __you're Veela. I__f__ you __keep your o__ff__ hand ready to throw fireballs you'__ll__ be able to handle __just about __anything __you__ come up against __and Rolf and I will be __right__ there with you__._" With that he gave her a hug, squeezed Rolf's shoulder and took the lead on the way into the maze.

A couple of minutes later, Harry started swearing about cowardly bastards and the others asked what the hell he was talking about, so he tersely explained that Krum had come running back out of the maze with some trolls on his heels and started throwing curses at Luna and the others as soon as he saw them. Luna disarmed him and bound him then she and the others dealt with the trolls before they went on… That had slowed them down a little so hopefully they'd catch up to them soon.

A few minutes later, they came across the bound Krum, mostly covered with the troll blood and gore that was splattered all abound him. Harry didn't slow down as he kicked the bastard in the ribs on the way past, but Fleur paused long enough to make sure she hit her target when she kicked him a bit lower than Harry had.

Most of the creatures and obstacles they came across were destroyed, because Hermione was channelling energy from the ley lines to Luna and Harry, so Luna was just blasting through the obstacles to get through quicker, but some of them had reset after they passed through, and Luna wouldn't harm a sphinx so they had to answer her riddles to get past her. The sphinx laughed when Harry offered her a place with the other sphinxes on the Potter estates, saying that his lady before him had already made that offer and she had now decided to accept.

There wasn't anything that could stop them in the maze, and Luna, Neville and Susan were waiting for them at the cup. They'd already decided what they were going to do, so Luna, Fleur and Rolf took the cup together to finish the tournament as a three way tie between Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. The cup flashed but the wards had disabled the portkey, so they just levitated it in front of them as they walked back out of the maze, with Harry hanging back to portkey the sphinx off to Potter Manor and then return (goblin portkeys still worked, it was only wizarding ones that were blocked). Without the others seeing him do that, they could easily argue that the sphinx must have fallen victim to something in the maze because they'd had to deal with some of the trolls and Acromantulas left in the maze on the way back, in fact dealing with an Acromantula was what gave Harry the excuse to fall back in the first place. They gave Krum a few more kicks on the way past.

* * *

They'd gotten rid of their swords, thrown their hoods back and taken off their flying helmets and gloves by the time they exited the maze, so aside from the dragonhide robes, boots and such and the Triwizard Cup which was hanging in the air in front of them, they looked like a group of friends out for a stroll.

The Bulgarian official started demanding to know where Krum was and what they'd done to him when he realised that Krum wasn't with them, and he certainly didn't appreciate the answer he got from Luna. "He's still in the maze, he ran into us when he was running away from a couple of trolls, but as soon as he saw us he started throwing curses at us so I disarmed him and tied him up then we dealt with the trolls. He's still okay though because we checked on him on the way out of the maze."

The official pretty much started foaming at the mouth at that. "You _lie_ witch! Krum is proud Bulgarian, Bulgarians do not run from danger and something like _you_ could never handle anything he couldn't! You must have all colluded to prevent Krum winning as he should have, the _Veela_…" he waved at Fleur with a leer "must have used its talents to distract him so that the rest of you could disable him. I claim the Veela in his name for its part in the attack on Krum…."

The rest of his diatribe went unsaid as Harry put him down with a broken jaw at that point, sending a call to Hermione and Hedwig over their link to bring the Delacours and the ICW officials who were brought in to look into what killed Dumbledore and Karkaroff. He was shouting at the official to distract everyone while Hermione got them there, and to stop himself killing the pig for shouting at Luna like that, trying to claim Fleur, and trying to sell the Bulgarian Veela off at the Quidditch World Cup Final, because when he called Fleur 'the _Veela_' like that, Harry realised why his voice had sounded familiar, this was the one he'd heard making the deal to sell the Bulgarian Veela to the Purebloods. "Your life is _mine_ pig! Even a goat molesting inbred retard from the hills of a backwards country like your's should know that the penalty for attacking the wife of a recognised Duke is _death_…. However, as you have _also_ attempted to _claim_ the daughter and Heiress of Comte Louis Delacour, Chef de la Noblesse Ancienne Famille de Delacour and Ministre de la Ministère des Affaires Magiques de la France, so I will no doubt have to bow to Comte Delacour's superior case to finish you. Therefore I will have to show you my displeasure before he manages to get here to claim that right." He gave the pig a few good kicks in the ribs and softer places to punctuate his points.

By the time the Delacours and ICW officials arrived, the pig was curled up in a foetal position, begging him to stop, but he didn't stop shouting and kicking him until the ICW official respectfully asked him to (unlike the Ministry minder for the Bulgarian National Quidditch team, they were _well_ aware of who he was). Harry stepped back and straightened his robes, casting a wandless non-verbal scourgify over himself and another charm to tidy his hair so that he suddenly presented a regal but martial figure as he waved at the Bulgarian official. "Comte Delacour, Comtesse Delacour, do you recognise _this_ from the Quidditch World Cup Final here in Britain last year?"

Louis looked hard at the wizard on the ground and nodded. "Oui, he was introduced as a representative of Bulgaria's Magical Sports and Games Department." Apolline also nodded. "Oui."

Harry looked at Apolline. "Comtesse Delacour, do you remember the _other_ matter that Clan Overchief Gringott's Heir assisted you with at the World Cup Final?"

Her face hardened. "Oui!"

Harry nodded. "_This_ is the pig I overheard making that deal!"

Louis was well aware of what deal Harry was referring to, so he grabbed his wife to stop her attacking the pig, but his face hardened as well.

Harry turned to the ICW officials. "It is still a criminal offence to sell unwilling witches and wizards who are citizens of states which are members of the International Confederation of Wizards into sexual or other slavery, is it not?"

"Of course it is Duke Potter, but what are you talking about?"

"At the Quidditch World Cup Final here in Britain last year, I overheard this pig making a deal to sell the Veela who were the Bulgarian team's _mascots_ off to the rabid pigs who were planning to stage the attack that happened at the site after the match. I advised Comtesse Delacour, as a representative of the Veela Councils, of what I'd heard and the Heir to the Clan Overchief of the Goblin Nations, who was attending the World Cup Final with us, assisted Comtesse Delacour in getting the young ladies to safety outside of Britain. We did not follow the matter up at the time, because my overhearing an unknown voice making the deal would not have been accepted as sufficient proof of the crime in court, but he has just attacked my wife, Duchess Luna Potter Peverell, and tried to _claim_ Baroness Delacour, Heiress of Comte Louis Delacour, Chef de la Noblesse Ancienne Famille de Delacour and Ministre de la Ministère des Affaires Magiques de la France, on behalf of the pig who's still tied up in the maze because he attacked my wife, the Countess Bones and Baron Longbottom when he saw them while he was running away from the trolls he encountered in the maze, so we now have ample evidence to charge him and have him questioned under Veritaserum, as well as looking into his finances because I'm sure that most of the Hundred odd Thousand Galleons he took as payment for the two dozen Veela he sold at the World Cup Final would have ended up in his vaults. As I said to this pig, I am willing to yield to the superior claim of Comte Delacour for justice, but if we can find sufficient evidence of the attempt to sell those young Veela into slavery, I believe that the Veela Councils will have the strongest claim..."

Apolline was a frightening sight as she struggled to hold to her human form in her rage, but she managed to bite out "Oui! The Councils have first claim!" in a harsh voice due to her semi transformed state.

The ICW officials looked grim as they slapped shackles on the Bulgarian official (Harry had to smile as he saw that they were the ICW's versions of the DMLE's locator bracelets) while other officials ran into the maze to collect Krum. The press got some good pictures of the bound Krum being levitated out of the maze covered in troll gore. Frank stopped Davies and the other Triwizard Committee members stomping off in a huff before they presented the prize to Luna, Fleur and Rolf as the joint winners of the Triwizard Tournament. The pictures in the newspapers made it clear just how much they hated being forced to make the presentations, along with their outrage at being taken into custody by the DMLE before they could leave.

The most surprising part of that was that about half of them had actually believed that they'd be able to get away with what they'd planned and done with the Triwizard Tournament. They couldn't understand that the protections they'd written into the Triwizard contracts finished the moment the tournament did, that the current heads of state of Magical Britain and France and the directors of Magical Britain's Departments of Magical Law Enforcement and Magical Creatures would never allow them to get away with trying to kill their heirs and ward, or that Duke Potter-Black, the famous Boy-Who-Lived, would never let them get away with trying to harm his wife and friends, or himself for that matter. That level of stupidity rather proved that the inbreeding that the Traditional Purebloods clung to was a very bad idea.

* * *

The 'World Cup Scandal' bankrupted the government of Magical Bulgaria, and many government officials and most of the Bulgarian National Quidditch Team were imprisoned for what they arrogantly admitted doing to the Veela attached to the Quidditch Team and other Veela in Bulgaria. They were still refusing to accept that the ICW's laws protecting citizens of ICW member states had primacy over the laws they'd passed in Bulgaria giving them the right to do whatever they liked there, because they'd broken the ICW's laws outside of Bulgaria, while they were being dragged away. The ICW made sure that the ones who took over from the outed government knew that it would be keeping a close eye on them, and would step in if they allowed things to go the way they had before. Bulgaria had just started making a name for itself as a player on the world sporting stage with its national Quidditch team, so it didn't take much for it to fall back into the position of just one of the many European pocket states that made up the bulk of the ICW.

The ones who'd hidden behind the Triwizard Tournament's magical contract protections were also destroyed. The evidence collected through the tournament was proof of their plans to kill off the heirs and wards of those who were taking away their control of the various governments and Harry, Luna, Susan, Neville and Fleur all held high enough status under the old laws for the penalty to be death and forfeiture of everything they owned. The ones who'd been using the contracts for protection had been weak and self serving for the most part, so they'd given up the real players behind the plan in an attempt to save themselves and they were taken down as well.

In the end, the machinations behind the Triwizard Tournament were what broke the stranglehold the 'Traditional' Purebloods had on Magical Britain. They had thrown everything they had behind it, hoping that the loss of the last of their lines would break the strongest of the Druid Houses and then the others would fall to the pressure they brought to bear, but what happened was that the traditional Pureblood Houses were the ones who were broken and eradicated. Powerful Death Eaters and Pureblood bigots were finally being prosecuted for their crimes, their names were eradicated in Magical Britain and their titles, seats and everything else they owned were forfeited to their victims, who were largely Muggleborn or Half-Blood.

This resulted in the Muggleborn and Half-Bloods who had been abused and reviled by the Purebloods getting a stronger foothold in the Wizengamot and Ministry, so the Druids and the Progressives (many of them Muggleborn and Half-Blood) had control of the Wizengamot and the addendums and guidelines that the Purebloods had used to weight everything in the Ministry in their favour were all thrown out, so the original regulations that stipulated that witches and wizards would be hired and promoted on the basis of ability and qualifications once again applied.

In the space of a few short years, the Druids had reclaimed their role of guiding Magical Britain and traditional Purebloods had become a very vocal minority whose main argument was. 'I don't like it so things must go back to the way they were!' Many of the Pureblood families who still had any sort of holdings in the old countries left Magical Britain, choosing to salve their egos by being big fish in little ponds rather than admit that they were wrong and needed to change their stance on controversial issues.

* * *

The Druid Houses and Families who built Magical Britain had begun turning the tables on the so-called 'Traditional' Houses the day that Minerva took Harry to Gringotts. The Goblin Nation maintained far more detailed and accurate records of the identities and location of everyone associated with Magical Britain than the Ministry did, so they knew where to find the ones who had been pushed out of Magical Britain, the Squibs, Muggle-Born, Muggle-Raised, Half-Bloods, Half-Breeds, Werewolves, House Elves who had been cast out and the rest. Most of them were struggling because they lacked magical or non-magical education (or both), and many lacked the identification they needed to establish themselves in the non-magical world in order to make a decent living, so they eagerly accepted everything the Druids offered, jobs, housing, education, identification, medical attention, Wolfsbane and other treatments they needed, everything they needed and deserved to make decent lives for themselves. Most of those moving into this new world knew others who were struggling, and they were also given assistance to get out of the situations they had been forced into, many abused house elves suddenly became unable to fulfil their duties so they were cast out and many Muggle-born and Muggle-Raised disappeared from their menial jobs and the hovels that they spent most of their wages renting.

Their Pureblood employers were quite put out that they had to pay more for far less capable Purebloods to replace the Muggle Born and Raised rabble who had previously done all the work, as their businesses started to fail because they were losing money. Those same Purebloods were often the landlords of the slums the Muggle Born and Raised had been forced to live in and they couldn't get anyone else to rent the hovels the Muggle Born and Raised had had to accept, so they either had to spend money they no longer had improving them or sell them at a loss. Few of them noticed that these properties often disappeared soon after they were sold, because charms were cast to hide them before they were fixed up to provide suitable housing for people. The same was done with the business premises after their businesses went belly up and were sold off.

These people now lived and worked in Druid owned properties and businesses hidden in the shadows between the Magical and Non-Magical worlds, so for all intents and purposes they remained invisible to the Magical world, and the Non-Magical world as well to a large degree, but while invisible, this Shadow Britain very quickly grew to be bigger and more prosperous than Magical Britain because it was made up of people who were more capable than many in Magical Britain, and eager to prove themselves now that they were being offered the chance. More than a few of the Muggle Born and Raised's families moved into this new world with them, bringing much needed skills to get the businesses and institutions established and working properly. Many of the ones who moved into Shadow Britain were also willing and eager to do something about the real problems of Magical Britain that the Purebloods in charge refused to do anything about, the rogue werewolves who had attacked and turned many of them and the Death Eaters and other thugs who preyed on the innocent with impunity, as they were protected by their 'Pureblood' status.

The beauty of this was that these activities were largely ignored, the fact that werewolf attacks had all but disappeared went unnoticed by most and the criminal elements that the Death Eaters and other thugs worked for generally didn't report anything to the authorities when they disappeared. The wealthier Death Eaters and their ilk who were behind some of the criminal enterprises did demand that something be done to stop the disappearances, but most of those who 'disappeared' had been arrested quite often, only to be let off due to political pressure, so the DMLE generally just filed the demands to track down those responsible for their disappearances away with all the records of the arrests that they'd been forced to drop, happy to be able to close the books on them. Some in the DMLE did look into the matter quietly, but with a eye to helping the ones who were doing the job that they'd been prevented doing, and this in turn led to a number of Aurors, Hitwizards and Magical Law Enforcement Patrol Officers retiring or otherwise leaving the DMLE so that they could help train and lead the Shadowbrits in their activities. They also helped clean out some of the filth of Non-Magical Britain, mostly the ones working for the Purebloods' criminal enterprises that had spread into the Non-Magical world but incorrigible and vicious Non-Magical criminals who used loopholes in the law to escape retribution for their crimes were often dealt with when they came across them, these were generally set up to look like they'd been taken out by their criminal rivals.

* * *

Remus Lupin had thought long and hard after he was forced to finally open his eyes and see Albus Dumbledore for what he really was, but Minerva and the others had been disgusted enough by his refusal to accept what was right in front of him that they didn't try to stop Dumbledore dismissing him at the end of the school year. Sirius was desperate to hang onto the last person he had left from the only happy period of his life though so he took Remus on as a Thane of the Most Noble and Most Ancient Druid House of Black and its Associated Houses, assisting Andi as its Steward. Harry didn't have many happy memories to offset Lupin's blindly following Dumbledore and abandoning him, so he wasn't as willing to accept Lupin back into his life... he was quite happy for Sirius to have his friend back but he didn't want to deal with him. He and the girls _did_ accept Lupin as a Thane for the Most Noble and Most Ancient Druid House of Potter, Junior Noble and Ancient Druid Houses of Dagworth-Granger and Lovegood and their Associated Houses though, to help take some of the load off of Auntie Andi if nothing else.

About six months after Lupin became a Thane of their Houses, they acquired another Thane, Narcissa Black. Six months of sitting alone in the house she was allocated with nothing to do but needlepoint and examine her life choices was more than enough to make Narcissa re-evaluate her life and position and she went to Sirius to beg for a chance to prove that she was a true and worthy daughter of the House of Black. Sirius had the Black Family Magic judge Narcissa and it found that she honestly wanted to redeem herself, so he accepted her back into the House of Black, allocating her a Black Baronetess title to give her the standing she needed to deal with the hidebound Pureblood Noble Houses (as the last Lupin, Remus was Laird Lupin, Head of the Ancient Druid Family of Lupin, so he had the requisite title, and word soon got around that any idiots who refused to deal with him because he was a werewolf lost the lucrative business of the Houses of Black and Potter so the sensible ones 'ignored' his status as a werewolf). Like Remus, Narcissa was a Thane for the Black, Potter, Dagworth-Granger and Lovegood Houses and having two such capable deputies took a lot of the load off Andi, as Steward of the four Houses.

Remus had been the 'brain' behind the Marauders and while he wasn't a patch on Lily Evans or Pandora Cathbad, he had been head and shoulders above everyone else at Hogwarts. The stigma of being a werewolf and not having non-magical education credentials blocked him from being as successful as he should have been in either the Magical or Non-Magical worlds, but when given a chance to show what he could do he was exceedingly capable, and like Narcissa, he was driven to prove himself and make up for the mistakes he had made in blindly following Dumbledore.

Narcissa was just as intelligent as her older sisters Andromeda and Bellatrix (Bellatrix Black had been a brilliant witch, it was generally accepted that it was her treatment by her husband and his family after her parents made her accept the arranged marriage to Rodolphus Lestrange that Andromeda ran away from that had driven her crazy), and like them had received extensive training in Noble House etiquette and politics and estate management. She had been the one responsible for the political and financial success of the House of Malfoy, so she made a very valuable addition to the team managing their four houses…. she still retained some of the blood bias that had been drilled into her as a child but was sensible enough to recognise that there was no real basis for it and tried to put it behind her in her dealings with the rest of the family.

With two exceptional daughters of the House of Black and the brain of the Marauders (not to mention Harry, Hermione and Luna, the brilliant children of the two most brilliant witches in Magical Britain in Centuries and another one just as brilliant) in the core team managing their recovery, the Druid Houses were doing quite well, and as they claimed the assets of the Pureblood Houses they took down and undermined Pureblood businesses in the rest of Magical Britain so that they could be bought out cheaply, Shadow Britain quickly grew into a thriving and prosperous entity.

* * *

The Purebloods riding roughshod over Magical Britain couldn't see what was happening, but the rest of the Magical world could, because there was a sudden upturn in innovative and quality magical products and supplies coming out of Britain that were priced well enough to take business away from competing products that were made locally unless there were legal protections blocking foreign products, and even there the quality was often good enough to justify paying the higher prices created by the government tariffs. The magical conversions of electrical products probably amused the Magical world the most though, because the developments which allowed these to be eagerly embraced by the rest of the Magical world were apparently coming from the country that continued to ban their use, Magical Britain.

The Shadow world wasn't limited to Britain though, the Houses of Potter and Black had extensive holdings right across the Magical World and Duke Potter was recognised by every Goblin Nation, so the disaffected of the Magical World were being given sanctuary in every country where they had enough presence to provide support and Shadow Nations grew between the Magical and Non-Magical world in countries where there were more disaffected. After the Triwizard Tournament Final and the trials that decimated Magical Bulgaria, the Veela Councils demanded that they be recognised as the Veela Nations by the ICW, and once they were officially recognised, they and the Goblin Nations proposed that the International Confederation of Wizards be redefined as the International Confederation of Magical Nations, with _all_ Magical Nations having equal representation in the Confederation.

The International Confederation of Magical Nations was, of course, a much harder sell, but with the support of the new governments of Magical Britain and Magical France supporting the proposal, along with the Confederation of Nordic Magical States and the quiet threat of financial ruin for the Magical World unless it was given fair and honest consideration, the matter was being seriously debated. It was actually the Goblin Nations who insisted that the Shadow Nations be included in this consideration, because they represented a genuine melding of multiple Magical and Non-Magical cultures and were the Elves and Dwarves' de-facto nations, the Veela immediately got behind this so the Shadow Nations were formally recognised as Magical Nations by the ICW as the debate continued.

* * *

As the Druids and Progressives gained control of Magical Britain's Wizengamot and Ministry, better qualified Muggle-Born and Half-Blood witches and wizards were taking over jobs that had up until now been filled by Purebloods under the 'guidelines' that had been put in place to guarantee Pureblood employment. Many of these witches and wizards were coming back from Shadow Britain, with the Goblin Nations providing the necessary parchment trails to show that they'd been working for business interests and institutions elsewhere in the Magical world. They were slowly but surely pushing the Pureblood bigots out of their positions of power, and one of their biggest milestones had been when Newt Scamander came out of retirement to take over as Director of the renamed Department of Magical Creatures in September Ninety Three, as this allowed them to start pushing to repeal the restrictive and abusive laws against other magical beings and magical creatures.

Harry kept his word and he and the girls took up their positions in Magical Britain again once the worst of the Pureblood bigots had been cleaned out, but they spent most of their time and lived in their other estates around the world, especially those in the tropics and Australia, because they were much nicer places to raise a family than Britain. Both Hermione and Luna became pregnant in their first tantric bonding ritual, but if they do it early enough Veela can put their pregnancy into stasis until it's safe to proceed with and Luna shared that ability with Hermione, so they both put their pregnancies on hold until after the Tournament had finished.

Neville, Susan and Megan officially returned to Magical Britain after they got their NEWTs at Beauxbatons and were married, with Susan becoming Countess Bones-Longbottom and Megan becoming Baroness Longbottom…. Megan would be Countess Longbottom when Neville became Head of the House of Longbottom. While they were _officially_ residing in Magical Britain and Neville was managing some of the House of Longbottom's interests there, they were spending a lot of time with Harry, Hermione and Luna in the tropics and once Neville had his Mastery in Herbology he was overseeing the Herbology side of the world wide chain of Shamrock Farm potions ingredients farms that he, Luna and Harry had established together after they started at Hogwarts, Luna and her father Xeno were overseeing the creature side of the farms between them. They'd originally come up with the idea for Shamrock Farm to keep Xeno busy so that he wouldn't spend as much time agonising about losing Pandora, but the farms grew into an enterprise that was supplying most of the ingredients for the potions businesses that were operating in the Shadow Nations, so it had turned into an extremely lucrative business venture.

* * *

Hermione and Luna both gave birth to fraternal twins in December Nineteen Ninety Four, Hermione was effectively Twenty Three, Harry was Twenty Two and Luna was nearly Twenty Two at the time, even though chronologically they were only Fourteen, Thirteen and nearly Thirteen. Hermione had Lily Jean and Puck James Potter-Peverell (Hermione went along with Harry's argument that as both of their fathers were called James, another name was needed and Puck would at the same time honour the Shakespearean origin of her name and his father's trickster nature). Luna had Pandora Dorea and Ignatius Charlus Potter-Peverell, as they'd agreed that it would be fitting for the next Duke Peverell to have his Peverell ancestor's name. The thousand year old Potter family charter dictated that Puck would be the next Duke Potter and he was identified as Earl Gryffindor at birth, just as Iggy was identified as Earl Slytherin. Lily would be the next Countess Hufflepuff and Baroness Dagworth-Granger at birth while Pandora would be the next Countess Ravenclaw and Baroness Lovegood at birth (because Xeno had formally abdicated the titles of Baroness Lovegood and Head of the Noble and Ancient Druid House of Lovegood to Luna as soon as her real age reached Fourteen). They would decide how they would divvy up their other titles when they found out whether they were having more children. Both Lily and Puck tended towards Hermione's features and curly hair, but with Harry's hair and eye colour, so Lily would look very much like a curlier haired version of her grandmother when she grew up while Puck would look much like his father. Pan and Iggy, however, mostly took after Luna in features and white blonde hair colour, with Harry's eye colour and untamed hair.

Apolline Delacour explained to them that Pandora would be a Veela, but the only time Veela ever had male children was as part of fraternal twins like this, and any sort of twins were a rare occurrence for Veela. She also explained that male Veela children never became full Veela and received very little of the Veela abilities…. if he was powerful as Harry and Luna's child was bound to be, he may be able to transform his hands and throw Veela fireballs, have a limited form of Veela allure, resistance to burns, healing abilities and the like, but aside from that he would be limited to whatever wizarding talents he inherited from the two of them. Apolline snorted in a rather unladylike manner at that and added. "So he'll probably be one of the most powerful wizards of his generation!"

There was never any question of that, because all four of their children were displaying their magic by the time they were two or three months old. As expected, they were all walking, talking and potty trained well before their first birthdays and generally being little terrors that their parents and everyone else in the family doted on. Luckily, it didn't take long for word to get around about the responses received by those who were arrogant and stupid enough to propose betrothal contracts with what were effectively the Princes and Princesses of the Magical World, and the fact that they had been delivered a few days before the full moon by rather scary looking werewolves, who advised that they would return in a few days to answer any questions they may have. Strangely enough, any and all interest in establishing betrothal contracts with Harry, Hermione and Luna's children quickly dried up after that.

* * *

The harsh penalties being imposed on witches and wizards for the mistreatment or abuse of elves in Magical Britain, Magical France, the Nordic Confederation and other progressive Magical Nations pushed the ICW to ratify these with international laws (it would take over a year for the change to the International Confederation of Magical Nations to occur). Strict enforcement of these penalties meant that casting elves out if their masters or mistresses were unhappy with them was a far safer practice than abusing them, so by the end of Nineteen Ninety Four the vast majority of House Elves were citizens of the Shadow Nations, and the only way most witches and wizards could make use of their services was to _hir__e_ their services through House Elf Location and Placement agencies with magical contracts which laid out the terms of their work requirements and treatment and the penalties if any of the conditions were breached. The fee for their services didn't amount to much, but the penalties for overworking or abusing them were quite severe and those with a history of abusing elves were rejected out of hand, so many witches and wizards lost the services of House Elves forever when they lost their elves for abusing them. Even with the low rates though, the HELP agencies were quite profitable businesses, and most of them belonged to the Houses of Potter and Black, which gave them the funding to continue many other initiatives they were involved with.

With the Magical World (well... Wizarding World really, they claimed to encompass all magic but ignored other magical beings) being as resistant to change as it was, very few could understand how Harry Potter and his family had managed to turn it on its head in just three years or so, because most of them couldn't accept the evidence that they'd actually lived over eleven and a half years in that time and so had many of the other people that they'd been working with over the period. Even though Harry's birth date was July 31st 1980, anyone who saw and dealt with him could see that he was an extremely fit, intelligent and powerful wizard in his early twenties with over two decades of education and life experience, and both of his Duchesses matched him in that.

As they'd noted time and again though, good sense was a scarce resource in the Wizarding world. There were numerous attempts to kidnap or get rid of members of the leading Druid Families, especially after the Potter-Peverell children were born, but they were put down fast and hard every time and the ones behind the attempts were dealt with through the Wizengamot or ICW, which just brought the end of the 'Traditional Pureblood' families closer each time...

Remus Lupin was about the only one in the family who really liked Bob Dylan, but Mister Dylan was certainly right about one thing…. _The Times, They Are a-Changin'__._

_Fin_

_**A/N: And that's it folks. I can't see any point dragging the story out any further as this seems a logical finishing point for me. **_

_**I expect that t**__**his will probably **__**irritate**__** some people, but I won't be marking the story as 'Completed' because that seems to attract the trolls, and I've had it with dealing with trolls. **_

_**I hope people enjoyed the story, but i**__**f**__** not there are hundreds of other writers on this site so I'm sure you'll find something you like i**__**f**__** you look around a bit.**_

_**All the best.**_


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